NIkki Finke Is Indeed Looking to Take Deadline Back From Jay Penske
TOLDJA! In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Nikki Finke revealed that she is looking to buy back Deadline from boss Jay Penske of PMC, or barring that, start a new Hollywood blog. Defamer first reported that Finke would be leaving come early September.
Penske bought Deadline in 2009, but relations have been strained between Penske and Finke since PMC purchased competing industry magazine Variety in 2012. Alleged sources of tension include Penske not installing Finke as the editor of Variety once he purchased the site, Variety receiving more resources and ad dollars than Deadline, and most discussed of all, Penske's growing exhaustion of Finke's bully-like behavior of Hollywood's power players.
From the interview with Finke:
"Jay Penske shared my vision of what Deadline could be, [but] now circumstances have changed with the addition of Variety and the issue is whether this shared vision is still intact," Ms. Finke said in an interview this week. "One of the most noble things Jay Penske could ever do would be to give me back Deadline."
It remains to be seen what Penske will ultimately decide, though Finke is still contractually obligated to PMC until 2016. We reached out to both Finke and Penske for comment. Finke declined to comment and we have yet to hear back from PMC.