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The Mystery Is Over: Billionaire Adelson Owns Las Vegas Paper
According to the report, Dumont-listed as Las Vegas Sands Corp’s senior VP of finance and strategy-pieced the deal together “at the behest of his father-in-law”.
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News + Media Capital Group LLC bought the paper and some affiliated publications for $140 million, a markup of about 37 percent from the paper’s last sale earlier this year, when the similarly named New Media Investment Group bought it. The new buyer was incorporated in September.
Adelson broke several days of silence on the newspaper purchase late Tuesday night, telling CNN that he has “no personal interest” in the R-J’s new owner.
Adelson, who has donated more than $100 million to nearly exclusively conservative political causes, including more than $92 million alone in the 2012 presidential election to try to defeat President Barack Obama in his reelection, has not been shy about using his Isreali newspapers as a political cudgel.
The family said it waited to announce the purchase to avoid distraction from Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate, which took place at an Adelson-owned casino-hotel. Adelson is also the owner of the pro-Netanyahu Hebrew-language daily newspaper Israel Hayom, which is distributed widely for free in Israel.
A separate report from the Review Journal outed Adelson’s son-in-law Patrick Dumont as the orchestrator of the newspaper purchase.
Adelson – one of the richest men in the world and a passionate supporter of Israel – is routinely courted by office-seekers from the White House down, who make the pilgrimage to his business headquarters on the Las Vegas Strip to seek his blessing.
Ken Doctor crunched the numbers and said the previous owner effectively flipped the newspaper for a profit. New Media Investment said it would enjoy an estimated 69% gain on the transaction. The Review-Journal’s previous owners spent just 2 million to buy the Vegas paper as well as more than 70 other daily and weekly publications back in March. The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s own journalists protested, demanding more transparency from their new owner.
Mike Reed is chief executive officer of New Media Investment Group’s subsidiary company Gatehouse Media, which will continue to run Nevada’s largest newspaper. The casino company didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The newspapers have a joint operating agreement, with the Sun delivered alongside the Review-Journal.
Also, the paper has a newsroom full of accomplished journalists, all of whom want to find out who is signing their checks and what those people want to do with a paper that they paid so lavishly for.
A longtime Review-Journal staffer-who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize his job-said Adelson’s ownership, if confirmed, would likely prompt awkward issues concerning the paper’s political coverage and especially its aggressive coverage of the gaming industry, including Adelson’s rival casino magnate, Steve Wynn.
The newspaper’s editorial board said the paper has little ground to criticize other organizations for failing to be transparent with the public.
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Experts say there has not been another case of a major paper being bought by a secret buyer for around a century.