Qatari royal invested ~$50M in pro #Trump network #Newsmax
Before & after the investment, snr newsroom ldrs urged Newsmax staff to soften coverage of #Qatar, current & fmr employees said
A member of the Qatari royal family invested ~$50 million in Newsmax, acc/to docs & representatives for the #FarRight#media co & the royal, in a moment of acute #MiddleEast tensions during the #Trump admin.
The investment bolstered a key #ConservativeMedia outlet…when #Qatar was facing intense diplomatic pressure…& seeking allies in the #UnitedStates. At the time of the investment, a coalition of countries led by #SaudiArabia & the #UAE had established a diplomatic & economic #blockade against Qatar, accusing it of supporting #terrorist grps across the #MiddleEast. Qatar had counted on its relationship w/the #US for protection,but #Trump initially sided w/its regional rivals, praising them in 2017…
In 2019 & 2020, Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al Thani, a fmr Qatari govt ofcl & the owner of a London-based investment fund, Heritage Advisors, invested in #Newsmax. The investment has not been previously reported.
Newsmax was looking for outside investors to better compete w/its much larger rival, #FoxNews, acc/to people who spoke at the time w/its founder & CEO, #ChristopherRuddy. Before & after the investment, snr newsroom ldrs urged staff to soften coverage of #Qatar….
A rep for #Newsmax disputed that the network “slanted coverage to be favorable to #Qatar”….
Newsmax & Heritage Advisors confirmed the investment after being presented w/documents detailing the transaction, which show that Sultan subsequently transferred his stake to a #CaymanIslands based corporate structure. The $50M investment represents a significant minority stake in Newsmax, a privately held #media company estimated to be worth between $100M & $200M, acc/to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The docs came from a trove of ~100k leaked files from #GenesisTrust, a #CaymanIslands based financial services provider, which were obtained by the International Consortium of #Investigative#Journalists & reviewed by WaPo.
Among the docs were internal forms prepared by Genesis that proposed the corporate structure would be “set up with the intention of benefiting the State of #Qatar.”