Derk Sauer is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

media magnate A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

and the founder of ''

The Moscow Times ''The Moscow Times'' is an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking tourists and expatriates s ...

''.

Biography

Sauer, a native of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, has considered himself a

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

in the past, having participated in

left wing politics since his youth. He claims that the ' Red May' student protests of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1968, which happened while he was 15 years old, informed much of his political beliefs. He later rejected communist ideology and has described Mao as a "monster". He is a member of the Socialist Party of the Netherlands Despite not speaking

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, Sauer was approached by Russian journalists in 1989 while serving as an editor for a weekly paper in his native country. They were able to convince him to immigrate to Russia and begin working on establishing a newspaper. Sauer worked with his business partner Annemarie van Gaal to introduce

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

and

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, among other magazines through their publishing house 'Independent Media,' which was founded in 1992. Sauer founded ''

'', the first

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

paper in Russia, as part of the new publishing house alongside the ''

Vedomosti ''Vedomosti'' ( rus, Ведомости, p=ˈvʲedəməsʲtʲɪ, ) is a Russian language, Russian-language business journalism, business daily newspaper published in Moscow. History ''Vedomosti'' was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between ...

''. Over the years, he became a successful

media entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

in Russia. In 2005 Sauer sold ''The Moscow Times'' to the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

Sanoma Sanoma Corporation (, formerly SanomaWSOY) is Finland's largest media group. The company has media business in Finland and a learning business in Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Spain, among others. The company is headquarte ...

. in 2010 Sauer became one of the new owners of

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...

, company which purchased his previous holding

Het Gesprek Het Gesprek (Dutch for "The Conversation") was a Dutch television channel, started on 2 October 2007. The channel offered interviews and debates, broadcast in the evenings. Founders of the television channel were Dutch journalists Frits Barend, ...

. In 2017 Sauer repurchased ''The Moscow Times''. He claimed that the paper could serve as a great medium for educating people abroad about underreported domestic subjects.

References

Living people Businesspeople from Amsterdam Maoists Dutch newspaper publishers (people) The Moscow Times Year of birth missing (living people) {{publish-bio-stub