Variety Sold To Finke’s Boss

 

The venerable trade paper, now with daily and weekly print editions and most digital content behind a paywall, went for about $25 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

 

Penske chief exec Jay Penske told the Times that Variety stumbled on the digital landscape in recent years, and he intends to make it “absolutely fundamental and indispensable” to its Hollywood readership.

 

“We wouldn’t be buying this business if we didn’t have a plan to correct the recent deterioration of both revenues and profit,” Penske told the paper.  “We are not buying Variety to gut the newsroom.  We are buying the business to build it.  Are there going to be changes? Yes. Do we want to reduce our dependency on print revenues? Yes. How quickly that can happen, we’ll know more in the coming months.”

 

One thing that appears certain is that Finke, who cut her reporting teeth for both Variety daily and weekly editions, as well as alt-pub L.A. Weekly, is not marching triumphantly into her old newsroom. She’s reportedly staying with Deadline. And according to online rival TheWrap, she’s not a happy camper about that.

 

“Insiders at Variety told TheWrap that Finke would have no immediate role,” TheWrap reported in an un-bylined story. “Insider had told TheWrap that tension had arisen between Penske Media Chairman and CEO Jay Penske and Finke because he would not give her a role running the trade.

 

“She’s having a major tantrum because he won’t give her the keys,” a source told TheWrap, headed by journalist Sharon Waxman.

 

Finke was unusually silent on the sale, beginning a curiously timed vacation a  week before the deal closed.

Deadline New York editor and former Variety reporter Mike Fleming reported the story in her stead, calling the sale “a bit jarring for me.” Fleming speculated, as have other deal-watchers, that Variety will lose the paywall and transition to a digital publication after 107 years in print.

 

“Since 1905, Variety has been the world’s premier entertainment news source, and is today one of the most recognized global media brands,” Penske said in announcing the purchase. “As part of this significant acquisition, we plan to rapidly build upon Variety’s foundation while extending this invaluable brand’s presence across the web, broadcast, mobile and international markets.”