Respected Nevada gambling publication sold

The respected Nevada gambling publication Las Vegas Review-Journal and sister publications has been sold to News + Media Capital Group LLC, a newly formed Delaware-domiciled company backed by “undisclosed financial backers with expertise in the media industry.”

Michael Schroeder, the manager of News + Media, announced the sale to company employees this week but did not disclose the consideration paid; it is understood that the former owner plans to issue a press release with more details later today (Friday) and that News + Media is backed by financiers with experience in the media industry.

This is the second time this year that the Journal has been the subject of a sale; in March a company titled New Media Investment Group acquired the Journal’s parent company, Stephens Media LLC, for $102.5 million in cash.

GateHouse Media LLC, a subsidiary of New Media, will continue to operate the Review-Journal and associated publications under a prior management agreement.

The Journal reports that Schroeder is president, publisher and chief executive of Central Connecticut Publishing, which owns four community newspapers in that state. He was a news editor and manager of editorial technology at Newsday, a daily paper on Long Island, N.Y., from 1983 to 1992. He also worked for the now-closed Los Angeles Herald Examiner and the Orange County Register.

The Review-Journal is Nevada’s largest media outlet with a Sunday circulation of 184,000 and an average of 10.5 million monthly Web page views. The transaction also includes five weekly newspapers: Boulder City Review; Pahrump Valley Times; Tonopah Times Bonanza; Las Vegas Business Press; Luxury Las Vegas Magazine; Best of Las Vegas; and the lasvegas.com website.

GateHouse CEO Kirk Davis said no changes are planned in the current operations of the newspaper.

Review-Journal publisher Jason Taylor said the sale does not affect the joint operating agreement between the Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun through which the Sun is inserted daily in the Review-Journal.

Nor will the sale change any of the newspaper’s strategic plans for 2016, which include creating a five-member investigative team, Taylor said.