Lakers News: Lakers Part Owner Pondering Angels Purchase
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a partial owner of your Los Angeles Lakers since 2010 and the owner/executive chairman of the Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Union-Tribune since 2018, could soon be adding another L.A. pro club to his portfolio.
Soon-Shiongper has contemplated putting his name in the hat for Anaheim's Los Angeles Angels, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. Shaikin adds that Soon-Shiongper and his partner Steven Cohen were runners-up in trying to buy the Angels' Echo Park rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, in 2012.
The inventor of cancer treatment drug Abraxane, Soon-Shiongper boasts a reported net worth of $6.9 billion. A transplant surgeon by trade, Soon-Shiongper also counts biotech investor and philanthropist as among his professional titles. He was also reportedly an early investor in Zoom, which has become one of the go-to remote video conferences since the COVID-19 pandemic first sent everyone home in early 2020. Shaikin projects the Angels to sell for an MLB record of at least $2.5 billion. The Lakers, meanwhile, have been valued at $5.5 billion this year, per Jordan Greer of Sporting News.
The Angels are currently in the midst of another lost season, despite fielding recent American League MVPs Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. L.A. sports a middling 60-78 record this year. The club fired manager Joe Maddon following a 12-game losing streak earlier this season.
Soon-Shiongper's current Los Angeles pro team, the Lakers, is hoping to avoid the fate of the Angels in 2022-23, and return to the postseason after finishing with a poor 33-49 record in 2021-22.
