By Kevin McCauley
PENSKE MEDIA SCOOPS UP VARIETY
Penske Media, which is headed by the son of racing legend Roger Penske, has purchased Variety for $25M from Reed Elsevier, owner of the Hollywood trade pub since 1987.
Jay Penske’s company is the owner of Deadline.com, which attracts 2.4M unique visitors per-month compared to Variety’s 320K.
He called 107-year-old Variety “one of the world’s premier entertainment news source” and “one of the most recognized global media brands.”
He plans to extend Variety’s brand presence “across the web, broadcast, mobile and international markets.”
PM also counts HollywoodLife and Hollybaby, which are managed by Bonnie Fuller, former editor of US Weekly, among its holdings. Its collection of online brands reaches a combined audience of more than 83M unique visitors per-month.
The company received financing for the Variety deal from Third Point, the hedge fund that triggered the management upheaval at Yahoo.
MARIE CLAIRE EXPANDS STAFF
Marie Claire has hired Vogue veteran Riza Cruz and Cosmopolitan’s Tracy Shaffer to buttress the fashion magazine that is owned by Hearst and Marie Claire Album.
Cruz takes on the executive editor slot when she reports to duty on Oct. 29. She has been a senior editor at Vogue since. Earlier, Cruz was features editor at Real Simple and editor at Business 2.0 and Vanity Fair.
Shaffer was entertainment director at Cosmo and has the same title at Marie Clare. Prior to Cosmo, she was managing director at PMK Public Relations, handling Johnny Depp, Billy Crystal and Mariah Carey. At MC, she is responsible for celebrity and entertainment content.
Cruz and Shaffer report to Anne Fulenwider, editor-in-chief.
END OF ERA AT MEDIA GENERAL
Media General has sold the Tampa Tribune to a group organized by Revolution Capital Group for $9.5M a deal that completes its exit from the newspaper business.
Marshall Morton, CEO of MG, said the deal marks a “bittersweet day” for the Richmond-based broadcaster that has TV stations in 18 markets.
Robert Loring, managing partner of RCG, called the Tampa Tribune a newspaper with strong brand equity and a long history of serving its readers, advertisers and community exceedingly well.”
MG has benefited from the presidential campaign as its stations in the battle ground states of Ohio, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina report an upswing in political advertising.
The company projects political advertising to generate nearly $60M in 2012 revenues.
MG bought the Tribune in 1927.
HARTMAN NAMED GROUP PUB AT TIME INC.
Jed Hartman, has been named group publisher of news and business at Time Inc., responsible for Time, Fortune, Money and CNNMoney.com.
In the new post, Hartman is in charge for ad sales and marketing, “allowing him to harness the collective power of these tremendous brands to provide smart, creative and scalable solutions for our advertising partners across every print and digital platform,” according to a memo from Todd Larsen, Time Inc. executive VP, who recently joined from Dow Jones & Co.
Before joining Time Inc., Hartman was publisher of The Week for a three-year stint.
AMANAPOUR LAUNCHES GIRLS’ EDUCATION DRIVE
Christiane Amanpour, ABC News global affairs anchor and CNN chief international correspondent, launched the 10X10 global campaign to promote education for girls and young women during an event Oct. 10 at the Paley Center for Media in New York.
Tied to the United Nations’ first International Day of the Girl, the gala featured novelist Marie Arana and Shabana Basij-Rasikh, managing director of School of Leadership, Afghanistan, who as a child in that country dressed as a boy to get an education.
The event debuted the trailer of the movie “Girl Rising,” which tells the stories of girls from across the globe seeking to get proper educations.
Girl Rising will be out next spring with voice-overs from Meryl Streep, Kerry Washington, and Selena Gomez.
10x10 is a partnership of Documentary Group and Paul Allen’s Vulcan Productions and Intel.
LEMANN TO STEP DOWN AT COLUMBIA J-SCHOOL
Nicholas Lemann is stepping down as dean of Columbia’s Journalism School at the end of next June after a ten-year stint.
He plans to take a one-year sabbatical and then return to the facility.
In his announcement, the New Yorker staff writer thanked Columbia president Lee Bollinger and his J-School colleagues for putting their “extraordinary trust in me,” making it “possible for me to have the happiest season of my career here in the dean's office.”
A search committee, headed by Bollinger, will begin the hunt for Lemann’s replacement later this month.
The J-School is celebrating its centennial. |