Jay Penske, the heir to the Detroit car-racing clan, is mulling a bid to buy Variety from the Amsterdam-based Reed Elsevier company, sources say.
Penske, 30, already has an Internet media conglomerate with Movieline, HollywoodLife (run by former Us Weekly editrix Bonnie Fuller) and Deadline, the showbiz website run by reclusive blogger Nikki Finke. He launched the business with a $35 million investment from private equity honcho Steve Rattner‘s Quadrangle Partners.
“He is working on a deal, and the numbers seem consistent based on online and print and profits,” one insider told Flash yesterday. But Variety Group president Neil Stiles said, “Nonsense, and you can quote me.”
Reed Elsevier put Variety up for sale in 2008, right before the economy collapsed, as part of 65 American trade journals and related companies. The European corporation eventually sold off 61 of the entities, but kept Variety and three other titles still producing profits.
Meanwhile, Variety’s chief competition, the Hollywood Reporter, stopped publishing daily, opting for a weekly magazine edited byJanice Min, aimed at a broader audience than studio execs and talent agents.
If Penske buys Variety, one thing’s for sure: The circle will be complete for Michael Fleming, the Long Island, N.Y.-based reporter who left Variety last year to work for Deadline.
Penske, 30, already has an Internet media conglomerate with Movieline, HollywoodLife (run by former Us Weekly editrix Bonnie Fuller) and Deadline, the showbiz website run by reclusive blogger Nikki Finke. He launched the business with a $35 million investment from private equity honcho Steve Rattner‘s Quadrangle Partners.
“He is working on a deal, and the numbers seem consistent based on online and print and profits,” one insider told Flash yesterday. But Variety Group president Neil Stiles said, “Nonsense, and you can quote me.”
Reed Elsevier put Variety up for sale in 2008, right before the economy collapsed, as part of 65 American trade journals and related companies. The European corporation eventually sold off 61 of the entities, but kept Variety and three other titles still producing profits.
Meanwhile, Variety’s chief competition, the Hollywood Reporter, stopped publishing daily, opting for a weekly magazine edited byJanice Min, aimed at a broader audience than studio execs and talent agents.
If Penske buys Variety, one thing’s for sure: The circle will be complete for Michael Fleming, the Long Island, N.Y.-based reporter who left Variety last year to work for Deadline.
