Soon-Shiong became a billionaire after selling two drug companies: APP Pharmaceuticals and Abraxis BioScience. He sold APP to Fresenius Medical Care for $4.6 billion in 2008, and Abraxis to Celgene for $2.8 billion in 2010. He owns the Los Angeles Times and a 4.5% stake in the Lakers professional basketball team.
Soon-Shiong's fortune is largely derived from the proceeds he accumulated selling two pharmaceutical companies.
He sold APP Pharmaceuticals for $4.6 billion to German drug manufacturer Fresenius in 2008. He collected $3.8 billion from the sale, in part thanks to an agreement that yielded him an extra $6 per share.
He later sold Abraxis BioScience for $2.9 billion in cash and stock to Celgene in 2010. He received about $2 billion in cash and a 2% stake in Celgene for his 33 million shares of Abraxis.
Soon-Shiong controls a range of different biotech companies that all are controlled by closely held NantWorks LLC. Two of the companies are publicly traded: ImmunityBio and NantHealth. Soon-Shiong controls roughly 80% and 83% of the shares in those companies, respectively.
Soon-Shiong bought the Los Angeles Times for $500 million in 2018. The asset is valued using its purchase price and the cost was deducted from his cash balance. He also owns a 4.5% stake in the Los Angeles Lakers, the professional basketball team. He bought the stake from retired Lakers star Earvin "Magic" Johnson for $27 million in October 2010. The team is worth about $6.4 billion, according to a December 2022 report by valuation consultants Sportico.
Katie Dodge, a spokesperson for Soon-Shiong, said the billionaire declined to comment on his net worth.
Soon-Shiong was born in 1952 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, to Chinese immigrant parents. His father had worked as a village doctor before fleeing China with his wife during World War II. After receiving his medical degree from Wits University in Johannesburg at age 23, Soon-Shiong moved to the U.S. to start surgical training at the University of California in Los Angeles. He joined the faculty of UCLA's medical school in 1983, focusing on diabetes treatment.
He left the university in 1991 to start VivoRX, a biotechnology firm. He renamed the company American Pharmaceutical Partners (APP) in 1997, and sold shares in a public offering four years later. He sold APP for $4.6 billion to Fresenius, a German drug manufacturer in 2008. He then sold Abraxis BioScience, which had been spun off from APP earlier, for $2.8 billion in cash and stock to Celgene in 2010.