Brad M. Kelley

In March 2013, the commercial arm of the BBC, BBCW, announced the sale of Lonely Planet to Kelly's NC2 Media. Lonely Planet is the world's most successful guidebook publisher, having printed over 100 million guidebooks, in addition to magazines, digital content, and other travel services.

In May 2012, Kelley became the operator of the historic Calumet Farm in Lexington. He was already involved in Thoroughbred breeding and racing operations. He was formerly the largest shareholder and a board member of Churchill Downs. In May 2013, his colt Oxbow won the Preakness Stakes.

Kelley owns 1.7 million acres of American ranching land in Texas, Florida and New Mexico. As of 2012, he is the fourth-largest private land owner in the U.S.

Kelley grew up on a farm that included tobacco, and his early business ventures were a response to changes in the tobacco industry. Because of declining production in the 1980s, many old warehouses in Kentucky stood vacant. He started buying these warehouses, converting them to other uses, and then leasing them out. This interest evolved into manufacturing. In 1991, he founded Commonwealth Brands, a tobacco company that manufactured low-cost cigarettes, headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The company was later sold in 2001 to Houchens Industries for US$1 billion. Kelley has never smoked, and he said in 2012, "I've never defended [smoking]. Hopefully it will be phased out of society."

Brad Maurice Kelley (born March 27, 1956) is an American businessman who is the 7th largest landowner in the U.S., with an estimated net worth of US$2.2 billion in 2018. He founded the Commonwealth Brands tobacco company in 1991 and sold the company in 2001 to Houchens Industries for US$1 billion. As of 2014, Kelley's business interests include Calumet Farm, NC2 Media (Lonely Planet) and the Center for Innovation and Technology business park.