ADELSON IS OWNER OF ‘REVIEWJOURNAL’
Las Vegas newspaper faced criticism over lack of transparency
Casino industry legend Sheldon Adelson confirmed Thursday he is the new owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, ending a week of confusion and speculation as to who had acquired Nevada’s largest newspaper.
“We understand the desire of the hard-working staff at the R-J and others in the community to know the identity of the paper’s new owners, and it was always our intention to publicly announce our ownership,” said a statement by the Adelson family published in the Review-Journal, whose reporters had been working frantically to determine who their new boss is.
In a strange move that triggered the ire of the paper’s staffers and an avalanche of criticism from media ethicists, Adelson’s newly incorporated company, News + Media Capital Group, bought the paper for $140 million last week and chose to keep the company’s ownership unidentified. The only name that appears in the filing papers — Michael Schroeder, CEO of Central CT Communications and a manager of the new company — repeatedly declined to comment on the purchase or who’s backing the deal. Citing unnamed sources, the
Review-Journal reported Wednesday that Adelson’s son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, arranged the acquisition. With Adelson’s funding, Dumont created News + Media Capital Group, it said.
As criticism of the lack of transparency regarding the paper’s ownership mounted, Re
view-Journal staffers took to social media to post journalists’ ethical guidelines. And readers on Twitter wondered how a newspaper that opts to hide its ownership can legitimately ask for transparency from people and institutions it covers.
The timing and the price of the purchase unleashed more questions. Adelson, 82, has a fortune estimated at $23 billion and is an unabashed supporter of the Republican Party, donating millions to fund candidates and pro-Israel causes. His casino company, Las Vegas Sands, is headquartered in Las Vegas, and he and Sands have been the subjects of countless stories by the Review-Journal over the years. Nevada also hosts an early GOP presidential primary and is a swing state that can potentially tilt the presidential election next year.
“The Adelson buy raises a host of questions,” says Ken Doctor, an industry analyst who writes about the news business on his site, Newsonomics.com. “Will the largest paper in one of the country’s purplest states become a new political platform?”
The price Adelson paid for the paper was about seven times its earnings, a valuation that far exceeds purchases of similar papers. Doctor says other papers have been bought for “three to four times” their earnings, adding the purchase wasn’t primarily about making money.
Adelson’s family says it delayed the announcement because the deal may have drawn attention away from the Republican presidential debate held Tuesday at the The Venetian, a Las Vegas hotel owned by Adelson.