Pensky Files Down Variety Staff

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A month after purchasing Variety from Reed Elsevier (see "TUOL" post 10/10/12), Penske Media Corp. ("PMC") has slashed 12 percent of the entertainment industry newspaper's 165-person workforce, the Los Angeles Times reports.

No reporters or editors are among the 20 employees being let go, the Times article notes. Media mogul Jay Penske purportedly has retained consultants to advise him about reducing the frequency of publication of the print edition of the Daily Variety. A weekly version of Variety is currently published as well.

According to the Times piece, Penske plans to tear down the online edition's paywall during the first quarter of 2013.

Penske Persistence Pays Off: Mogul Buys Variety

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Dutch media conglomerate Reed Elsevier has unloaded the 107-year-old weekly newspaper and "Bible" of the entertainment industry, Vareity, to Penske Media Corp. ("PMC") in an assets purchase deal whose terms were not disclosed, the Web site Deadline.com reports.

PMC CEO and Chair Jay Penske, a 31-year-old Internet media mogul and son of a famous racing family, is adding Variety to a stable that already includes the online MovieLine and HollywoodLife. His quest for Variety (see "TUOL" post 4/29/11) was backed by debt and equity financing from Third Point LLC affiliates, according to the Deadline.com post.

Reed Elsevier oversaw Variety for about a quarter century, following an 80-year stewardship of the trade newspaper by the Silverman family.

TV Guide Buyer Looking for Variety?

Variety (magazine) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The New York Post reported today that Los Angeles-based private equity investor Open Gate Capital LLC, which paid $1 to purchase a distressed TV Guide in 2008 (see "TUOL" post 6/3/10), may now have Variety, the entertainment industry bible owned by Dutch media conglomerate Reed Elsevier, in its sights.

Reed Elsevier in March offered the troubled Hollywood trade paper for sale. A year ago, Detroit Internet media mogul Jay Penske was rumored to be in line to acquire Variety (see "TUOL" post 4/29/11). The Post story reports Variety's price tag could range from $10 million to $30 million.

Open Gate Capital apparently has pulled out of the running to acquire the TV Guide cable channel from the Lionsgate movie studio and co-owner One Equity Partners. The Post article suggests Discovery Communications may have an interest in buying the TV Guide Channel.

Check your listings for updates on this story.

Will 'Variety' Be Added to the Penske File?

Image by shindoverse via FlickrDutch media mogul Reed Elsevier may be unloading Variety to 30-year-old Detroit Internet media conglomerate owner Jay Penske, according to TheDaily.com.

Penske, scion of a wealthy car-racing family, already has an online media stable that includes HollywoodLife, Movieline and showbiz Website, Deadline. Penske's online holdings are backed by a $35 million stake from private equity company, Quadrangle Partners, according to TheDaily.com post.  The Amsterdam-based Reed Elsevier held onto Variety, after offering it up for sale in 2008 at a time when it sold 61 trade journals as the magazine industry faltered with the economic slowdown.

Variety has denied TheDaily's claim. The magazine, which has been covering the entertainment industry since 1905, is owned by the Reed Business Information division of Reed Elsevier.

"TUOL" can see the Variety headline now if TheDaily item proves true: "Dragging Mag No Dutch Treat."

Judge Gives Filmmaker's 'Variety'Suit the Boot

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Iron Cross filmmaker Joshua Newton has another cross to bear--a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has ordered Newton to pay the legal fees of Reed Elsevier-owned Variety after allowing the entertainment industry journal's SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) motion offered in defense against Newton's complaint.

Newton's lawsuit alleged Variety solicited advertising revenues from the film's producers in March 2009, and promised to bolster the Holocaust-themed revenge drama's distribution and enhance its chances for an Oscar nomination, but reneged on the agreement and savaged the film in a movie review by Variety critic Robert Koehler in December 2009.  The film, which starred the late Roy Scheider of  Jaws & Seven-Ups fame, wrote Koehler, was "simply mediocre stuff, choppy and uncertain, with hints of ambitious ideas that fail to gather steam."

Variety no doubt considers the judge nixing Newton's case a boffo outcome.

The court tossed the plaintiff's suit, finding the complaint "fatally defective," and citing Variety's First Amendment right to publish an unflattering film review. In defamation cases, the "fair comment" defense generally protects arts critics, whose reviews constitute opinions, which by their nature, do not satisfy the false statement element of a libel claim.  Plaintiff's counsel plans to appeal, hoping to shift the focus from freedom of the press to what plaintiff alleged were Variety's deceptive business practices.