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‘This Man Is Serious’
The ten Penske Media employees interviewed for this article describe their boss as someone who steps up for publications in trouble. “Jay Penske came and saved this business,” said Dea Lawrence, Variety’s director of operations and marketing. “Hero of the publishing world.” According to Gerry Byrne, Penske Media vice president, his company has more than 1,350 employees, about half of whom are journalists and content creators.
After the company bought a controlling stake in Vibe and Billboard, which has offices in New York, he flew there to interview each new employee. Vibe editor-in-chief Datwon Thomas said, “This was in the midst of the pandemic and I was like, ‘Wow, this guy is serious!’ I thought,” he said. Mr. Thomas met Mr. Penske for lunch at the Bryant Park Grill in Midtown. “Jay knew a lot about me and my past,” she said. “He knew a lot about Vibe.” Four other Penske Media employees said Mr. Penske practiced interviewing each of his new employees immediately after acquiring a property.
Mr Penske sometimes plays rough with the staff. When Tatyana Siegelaccepted a job as a longtime Hollywood Reporter journalist. anklePenske, a subscription newsletter started by show business writer Richard Rushfield and expanding under former Hollywood Reporter editor-in-chief Janice Min, put an end to the movement. Ms. Siegel’s contract contained a non-compete clause and Mr Penske hired her to do so. The parties eventually agreed that Ms. Siegel should run for Rolling Stone, giving 80 percent of her work, the rest to The Ankler.
“Jay was the best company owner I’ve ever worked for at The Hollywood Reporter,” said Ms. Siegel, who joined the magazine in 2003. “My situation was unique and resolved amicably.”
Startups Puck and The Ankler pose a new threat to Penske Media’s influence on entertainment reporting. The competition is reminiscent of what happened more than a decade ago, when Deadline shook the old guard. Mr Rushfield said start-ups may have an advantage over established publications because they don’t owe anyone anything.
“If you’re at a broadcast like Variety, for example, it’s hard to keep track of the number of things a studio has on you,” said Mr Rushfield. “You need easy access to studio managers and agencies when you’re gift-wrapping. You need people for the covers. You need people to talk to at your conferences.” As a result, he continued, “publications with different business models and more aggressive reporting could bend their way.”
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