Employees at The Los Angeles Times have been hoping for many months that a white knight would offer them a way out of their contentious relationship with their parent company, Tronc.

Now, their white knight may have arrived.

Patrick Soon-Shiong, a billionaire Los Angeles doctor and one of Tronc’s major shareholders, is close to buying The Times, two people familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday, in a $500 million deal that would include the newspaper’s sister publication, The San Diego Union-Tribune.

A deal could be announced as soon as Wednesday, though negotiations could still fall apart, the people said.



Selling The Los Angeles Times would be a significant pullback for Tronc, which harbored national and international ambitions after Michael W. Ferro Jr. became the company’s chairman and biggest shareholder two years ago. Dr. Soon-Shiong publicly feuded with Mr. Ferro last year, as they vied to increase their stakes in the company in apparent attempts to outmaneuver each other for control. Tronc removed Dr. Soon-Shiong from its board last year.