After calls by its workers and at least one lawmaker to reveal him or herself, the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s newest owner was identified Wednesday evening to be Las Vegas Sands owner Sheldon Adelson.
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The paper was sold last week for $140 million to a newly-formed, Delaware-registered company whose backers were not publicly revealed, drawing criticism in the media world including the paper’s staff.
New Media Investment only controlled the Las Vegas Review-Journal for a short time before selling it off. The company in February agreed to pay $102.5 million for Stephens Media LLC, a chain of eight daily papers, including the Review- Journal, and dozens of weeklies.
The family said it kept its ownership secret for a week because it didn’t want to distract attention from the Republican debate being held in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
LAS VEGAS (KSNV News3LV) -the mystery behind the new owner of Nevada’s largest newspaper is possibly solved.
Newspaper officials have not identified the people behind the company. The ownership mystery surrounding the latest sale of the Las Vegas Review-Journal is capturing the a…
Adelson, a major GOP donor, said at the debate that he had “no personal interest” in ownership. Dumont is a senior vice president of finance for Las Vegas Sands, of which Adelson is chairman and CEO.
After a week, the Adelson family finally broke its silence amid growing public pressure from critics concerned about the new owner’s political and business influence. That included one in which News + Media’s manager, Michael Schroeder, implored staff to focus on their jobs and not worry about the new owners. The sale last week to an unidentified buyer perplexed even the newspapers’ editors and reporters, who had to investigate their own newspaper, with no assurance that their findings would be published. His influential Republican Jewish Coalition presidential forum draws the top GOP candidates. 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.
It is not as though Adelson is a political neophyte, or that his Republican leanings would represent a dramatic shift for the Review-Journal, which has long had a conservative editorial page and, critics say, a penchant for allowing those sentiments to bleed into its news coverage.
Copies of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are printed in this undated photo.
“It undermines the basically credibility and trustworthiness that is part and parcel for the American daily press”, he said.
“We hope whoever bought it will allow journalists to produce journalism that is ethical, responsible, and thorough”, said Seaman.
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During the 2012 election cycle, he spent more than $10 million to fund a super Pac supporting his longtime friend and ally Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House; this time around, Adelson is said to be leaning toward hawkish Sen.
