Report: Penske Media acquires 'Variety'
October 9, 2012, 12:01 pm EDT
Los Angeles—Penske Media, owner of Deadline.com, has acquired Hollywood trade publication Variety for about $25 million, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Penske and its financial backer, hedge fund company Third Point, purchased Variety from Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier, which put the publication on the block in March.
According to the report, Penske Media will add Variety to a portfolio that includes consumer-focused entertainment sites TVLine and Movieline, celebrity news and fashion site HollywoodLife and mobile gadget site BGR.
The report added that because of its pay wall, Variety.com's website's traffic lags far behind its competitors'. In August, Variety.com had 320,000 unique visitors, according to comScore, while Deadline.com and HollywoodReporter.com, which both offer free access, had 2.4 million and 5.1 million unique visitors, respectively.