Donald Edward Newhouse is an American business tycoon, better known as the heir, co-owner, and President of Advance Publications. As of September 2014, Forbes has estimated his net worth to be about $8.7 billion.
Donald owns Advance Publications along with his brother Samuel Jr. The publishing company was founded by their late father Samuel Newhouse, Sr. in 1922. The numerous assets of Advance Publications include Condé Nast which is the publisher of varied magazines such as Vanity Fair, Vogue, Wired, and The New Yorker; Bright House Networks, a cable company; and several newspapers throughout the US, which include The Plain Dealer, The Star-Ledger, and The Oregonian. Newhouse also has a substantial controlling shareholding in Discovery Communications.
As per Forbes, Newhouse is the richest person in New Jersey as well as the 54th wealthiest individual in the US.
The Personal Life of Donald Newhouse
Donald Newhouse was born in 1930 in NYC, into a Jewish family, to parents Samuel Newhouse, Sr. and Mitzi Newhouse. He married Susan Marley in 1955. She was the daughter of a junk dealer in Syracuse who later became a millionaire. The couple have 3 children and 6 grandchildren. Newhouse lives with his wife in West Amwell Township in New Jersey.
Michael Andrew Newhouse, Donald’s son, is an assistant publisher at the Times of Trenton. He is married to Elyse Sue Applebaum, whose brother Scott Applebaum, is the CEO and founder of Multispark, LLC. Katherine Irene Newhouse, his daughter, is married to Dr. Joseph Patrick Mele. She is a school teacher in New York at the Town School. Steven O. Newhouse, his other son, is married to Gina Sanders. He is working as the editor of the Jersey Journal.
The Inheritance of Donald Newhouse
Donald and his brother Samuel inherited Advance Publications from their father, Sam Newhouse, after he died in the year 1979. Advance is one of the biggest privately owned companies in the United States. It is the holding firm of numerous assets in the magazine, cable, newspaper, and entertainment sectors. After the passing away of his father, Donald Newhouse took charge of the newspaper assets and businesses while his brother Samuel took over Condé Nast, the unit which owns the company’s numerous magazines.
Sam Sr. began his publishing empire with just one newspaper called ‘The Bayonne Times.’ He made it into a profitable venture and then in 1922 embarked on his own entrepreneurial journey by acquiring the Staten Island Advance.
Advance Publications is currently the biggest newspaper chain in the US that is wholly owned by a family. The company has publications in more than 25 towns and cities in America. Of late, the publication industry has seen a significant decline in advertisement revenues and circulation. Newhouse’s newspapers have also met with the same fate. Donald eventually handed over the management of his newspaper businesses to his son Steven, who then decided to cut down the print versions of the newspapers and instead focused on the strategy of ‘digital first.’ This stand has attracted a lot of controversy.