Israel Matzav

What if Sheldon Adelson bought the New York Times?

In a spirited public discussion between two of America’s richest men and largest political donors, at the IAC conference in Washington DC, multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson openly challenged his more left-leaning counterpart and friend, billionaire and media mogul Haim Saban, to jointly purchase the New York Times away from the Sulzberger family, because of the Times’ open hostility towards Israel.

The subject came up in a pubic discussion about media bias and Israel. Saban marveled at how Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had purchased the Washington Post for a mere $250 million, which Saban called “bupkis,” and that he was sorry that he did not try to buy it himself. At that point Adelson pounced on Saban and challenged him on the spot to join with him to buy the New York Times from the Sulzberger family.

Saban expressed an openness to the idea, but was concerned that the Sulzberger family would not sell. Adelson dismissed that concern, “You pay significantly more than it’s worth, then the non-family shareholders have the right to bring a suit between the real value and what’s been offered.” Adelson suggested that he and Saban team up and make them an offer that cannot be refused; “There’s only one way to buy it, money…. but it’s not going to be one of those deals where I put up 10 times more than you” Adelson said.

Labels: anti-Israel media bias, Haim Saban, New York Times, Sheldon Adelson

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:09 AM