Billionaire biotech entrepreneur and former surgeon, Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD and is getting into the media game and fueling some major changes at Chicago-based Tribune Publishing Company.

Soon-Shiong's company, Nant Capital invested $70.5 million in Tribune Publishing last week. The deal makes the firm the Tribune's second-largest stakeholder, edging out Oaktree Capital Management. Soon-Shiong will also join the Tribune Publishing Board, effective today.

Former IBM-outfit Merge Healthcare CEO Justin Dearborn joined the Tribune as CEO in February 2016.

By partnering with Soon-Shiong, according to the company's press release, the Tribune will leverage access to machine vision and artificial intelligence technology patents to "accelerate the transformation from a legacy news company to a technology and content company."

“I am excited to join the company as Vice Chairman during this pivotal moment of transformation and revitalization,” Soon-Shiong said in a statement. “In the wake of significant disruption, it's time to bring the legacy publishing business into the modern era and leverage innovative technology - from machine learning to artificial intelligence - to create long-term sustainability and vitality.”

Nant's investment is just one of many radical changes occurring at the Tribune in recent weeks.

In another bold move, the Tribune has rebranded its name to "tronc" to reflect the "essence of the company's mission." Its stakeholders also voted to re-elect the company's board nominees at its annual meeting on Thursday.

These major changes are meant to reflect the need for the media industry to adopt an "innovative approach and a fundamentally different way of operating, Tribune Publishing Chairman Michael Ferro said in statement.

"Our transformation strategy - which has attracted over $114 million in growth capital - is focused on leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the user experience," he added. "Our rebranding to tronc represents the manner in which we will pool our technology and content resources to execute on our strategy.”

Twitter: @JessieFDavis
Email the writer: jessica.davis@himssmedia.com

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