Why Invest in Assafir?

In a step that is commendable for its transparency, Assafir, the struggling daily with a left-leaning, Arabist and secular disposition, announced that Mr. Jamal Daniel, a Syrian-American investor has bought a 20% stake in it:

Calling it a “joyful occasion,” [Talal] Salman, who has been at the paper’s helm since its founding in 1974, said Daniel’s investment meant that the paper would no longer be “haunted with the concern of securing the needs of [financial] survival.”

At first, this announcement didn’t sound quite right to me. Why would an “investor” pour money into a loss-making entity that is not “haunted with the concern of securing the needs of financial survival”? If the investor is not in it for the money, what would he be in it for?

So I assumed that Mr. Daniel is after political influence. But then after a quick online search I found his (impressive) biography. Fortunately, it seems the man is a philanthropist who has a keen interest in sponsoring artistic and cultural products of this region and promoting them in the US. Perhaps that’s why Mr. Salman, unlike all his peers, stood out and proudly announced the name of a new financial backer.