LOS ANGELES _— The editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal is leaving Nevada’s biggest newspaper after its purchase by billionaire casino executive Sheldon Adelson and his family.

Michael Hengel led the newspaper through an unusual turn of events this month as its reporters identified Adelson as its mystery buyer and wrote about an odd assignment to tail the judge in a court case involving Adelson, the 82-year-old founder of the world’s biggest casino company, Las Vegas Sands Corp. The editor accepted a buyout offer, the new owners said in a statement late Tuesday, according to Mark Fabiani, a spokesman for the new owners.

Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his family are the new owners of Nevada’s largest papernewspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson bought the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The family of billionaire casino mogul Adelson confirmed in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that they are the new owners of Nevada’s largest newspaper, ending a week of speculation and demands by staff and politicians to know the identity of the new boss. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) The Associated Press

Adelson acknowledged last week that he bought the newspaper through an intermediary. That ended speculation on the identity of who paid $140 million for the Review-Journal. He said then that he intended to disclose his ownership but didn’t want to distract from Republican presidential debates in Nevada.

In the statement on Tuesday, Adelson pledged to invest in the Review-Journal, and publish a “fair, unbiased and accurate” newspaper.

The new owners will begin a search for Hengel’s replacement, they said.

Reporters at the Review-Journal posted reactions on Twitter after Hengel addressed the newsroom.

“Announcement from newsroom in Las Vegas makes my stomach hurt,” wrote Howard Stutz, who has covered the casino industry, including Sands, for many years.

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