Downing joined MyPotential in July after an embarrassing episode at the paper in which it agreed to split profits from a special edition of the Times Sunday magazine with Staples Center, the subject of the issue.
He remained on the board (in the chair for five years), and signs of loyalty to principles appeared in 1999 when he wrote an open letter to the paper's employees condemning a secret deal in which the management had agreed to devote an edition of the Sunday magazine to a local sports arena in return for sharing the advertising profits.