Two well-known Wall Streeters - former hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt and Alliance Capital vice chairman Roger Hertog - last month acquired a majority stake in The New Republic from the money-losing political magazine’s longtime owner, Martin Peretz. And the 88-year-old New Republic isn’t Steinhardt and Hertog’s only publishing interest: The two are among a group of financiers backing The New York Sun, a daily newspaper that is to be launched this spring in New York City. The Sun’s other patrons include Bruce Kovner, founder and chairman of hedge fund Caxton Corp.; Andrew Cader, co-CEO of Goldman Sachs trading unit Spear, Leeds & Kellogg; and Russell Carson, general partner of private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. The Sun hopes to position itself as a conservative, New York-focused broadsheet alternative to The New York Times. Most of The Sun’s backers espouse right-wing views; Steinhardt, a generous Democratic donor, is the exception. All are prominent in New York civic life. Hertog, for instance, is chairman of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and Kovner is chairman of the Julliard School. The financiers’ interest in public policy, and the fact that the media world is in the middle of a historic advertising recession, has led to speculation that The Sun’s backers are more interested in influence than financial returns. Untrue, says Seth Lipsky, The Sun’s CEO and editor: “They want to do both. If this paper does not make money, it will be a failure.”
