News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Russian-born American billionaire Leonard Blavatnik has replaced billionaire Sheldon Adelson as the chief bidder for the financially troubled Ma'ariv, Israel's second largest Hebrew language newspaper. Adelson dropped out of negotiations with Ma'ariv last year and instead set up a free distribution newspaper Yisrael HaYom (Israel Today, with no relation to a missionary publication by the same name).

Adelson stopped talks with Ma'ariv's principal owner Ofer Nimrodi because of disagreements over Nimrod's setting the value of the company at $120 million. A similar dispute forced Blavatnik out of the running until recently, when he made another offer rumored to be at $90 million.