Koch Brothers Deny Buying Las Vegas Newspaper

Source: Fortune

We still don’t know who paid $140 million to buy The Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada’s largest daily newspaper with a circulation in excess of 175,000. But one rumored purchaser tells Fortune — via a spokesman — that it wasn’t them: Charles and David Koch, co-founders of Koch Industries and major donors to conservative candidates.

The media and political worlds have been scratching their heads since Gatehouse Media sold the paper last week to a limited liability company called News + Media Capital Group. The organization seems to have been created for the singular purpose of buying the Review-Journal, and also to shield the new owner’s identities.

Given Nevada’s recent history as an important swing state in presidential races — Nevadans have picked the winning presidential candidate in 9 straight elections — there has been a lot of speculation that the secretive purchase was made for the purpose of swinging local political opinion. The Kochs were among the possible names bandied about, but a spokesman says it wasn’t them.

One other popular guess has been Las Vegas casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, but his representative has not yet returned a request for comment.

Read more: http://fortune.com/2015/12/14/koch-brothers-las-vegas-review-journal/