Putting an end to a week-long mystery, the family of billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson confirmed Thursday morning that it has “purchased the Las Vegas Review-Journal through a wholly-owned fund”.
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The more-than-century-old paper and its sibling publications were purchased for $140 million in cash last week from New Media Investment Group Inc.by News + Media Capital Group LLC, a Delaware-based firm whose backers weren’t disclosed.
On Wednesday, reports began to emerge – including in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal and the Review-Journal itself – identifying Mr. Adelson as a backer of News + Media Capital Group LLC, the buyer.
Brian Greenspun, CEO and publisher of the rival Las Vegas Sun, said he welcomes the Adelson family to the journalism neighborhood and that any success under the new ownership would be good for them both.
“Our motivation for purchasing the R-J is simple”, the Adelson family said in a statement.
Adelson, a major GOP donor, had said at the debate that he had “no personal interest” in ownership.
For the past few days, the media has played a parlor game called “Who’s the person who bought Las Vegas’s largest newspaper for $140 million and refused to reveal his identity?”
Adelson, a staunch supporter of Israel, and particularly of Likud Party Prime Minister ++Benjamin Netanyahu++[ http://www.thedailybeast.com/topics/benjamin-netanyahu.html], also owns the Hebrew-language free daily Israel Hayom, a reliable Netanyahu cheerleader, and tends to bankroll Republican presidential candidates who impress him as most loyal to the interests and wellbeing of the Jewish State.
Schroeder said News + Media had been aiming to buy the newspaper for six to eight months.
He said the public company had no intention to resell the paper but did so out of fiduciary duty in the interest of its shareholders.
The timing of the sale and the purchase price had Twitter buzzing and rumors flying that Adelson bought the largest newspaper in a swing state to influence the presidential election.
But all week, attention has focused on Adelson, who owns a number of Las Vegas casinos and is a powerful player in Nevada and national politics. Morton and other staffers who expressed frustration on social media and demanded to know the identity of the buyer have declined to comment to The Associated Press. He also owns the Venetian Resort and Casino where Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate was staged.
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U.S. Rep. Dina Titus took to the House floor Wednesday to urge the new owners of the RJ to reveal themselves, but hours passed before the owner’s identity was officially revealed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The unusual transaction prompted reporters in the paper’s own newsroom, along with others nationwide, to try and solve the media mystery. Additionally, Adelson is deeply embroiled in a battle over whether the federal government should ban internet gambling: He supports a ban, but stands almost alone in the casino industry in that position.
