Las Vegas Review-Journal editor Mike Hengel announced his surprise departure to “stunned” staffers on Tuesday evening just days after conservative megadonor Sheldon Adelson confirmed his family had purchased the paper.
Hengel had led Nevada’s largest newspaper since 2010. His buyout is voluntary, he told staffers.
“I think my resignation probably comes a relief (sic) to the new owners, and it is in my best interest and those of my family,” he told staffers in the R-J newsroom.
@reviewjournal Editor Mike Hengel announces to a stunned newsroom that he is leaving the paper. Voluntary buyout. pic.twitter.com/u1o2YEEiXP
— Kevin M. Cannon (@kmcannonphoto) December 23, 2015
Announcement from newsroom in Las Vegas makes my stomach hurt
— Howard Stutz (@howardstutz) December 23, 2015
Adelson’s family confirmed their purchase of the newspaper Thursday in an editorial alongside an investigative piece from the paper outing the casino titan as the owner — a claim he’d previously skirted.
