PMRC Formed To Operate Billboard, Variety, Hollywood Reporter As Penske, MRC Joint Venture

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Three of live entertainment’s best-known trade magazines will be operated by a joint venture formed by Penske Media Corporation, the parent company of Variety, and MRC – the company that operates Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter – in a deal announced today. 

The new joint venture, dubbed PMRC, will also operate Penske’s Rolling Stone and Music Business Worldwide,  and MRC’sVibe. 
In a second joint venture, MRC will use its content production assets including Dick Clark Productions to “develop new content and business opportunities drawn from stories and other intellectual property culled from across PMRC brands, according to a joint announcement.  DCP produces content including the American Music Awards and others.
The agreement, announced Sept. 23 by PMC CEO Jay Penske and MRC co-CEOs Asif Satchu and Modi Wiczyk, provides for PMC and MRC to continue operating independently outside the joint ventures, Variety reports. Even so, it’s likely the corporate coupling will profoundly alter media strategies in the live business environment going forward.
The deal was announced early Wednesday by Penske, Satchu and Wiczyk. Financial terms were not disclosed in the deal, which had been the subject of speculation for weeks. 
“These are all brands I’ve long admired. Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vibe have created some of the finest content in their respective industries and have contributed immensely to the heightened quality of journalism covering entertainment and music today,” Penske said in a statement quoted by Variety. “We feel very fortunate for this valuable partnership with the exceptional MRC team and the opportunity to continue the legacy of these tremendous brands for the next many decades.”
Other entertainment news trade brands held by PMC outside of the venture include Deadline, Women’s Wear Daily, SheMedia, Sportico and Robb Report, among others. 
“We have a great deal of respect for Variety, Rolling Stone and Music Business Worldwide and, as importantly, the leadership at PMC who we’ve gotten to know well and look forward to partnering with in both these businesses,” said Satchu and Wiczyk in an accompanying statement. 
The deal fundamentally alters a key part of Hollywood history as well, with former rivals THR and Variety vying for entertainment news supremacy for some 90 years. Variety marks its 115th year in 2020, while THR launched as the first West Coast-based trade paper in 1930. Billboard published its first “hit parade” in 1934.