Jay Penske is a media executive. The time of the year when Disney and other studios and streamers show their love for the talent by spending millions on For Your Consideration ads in Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, as well as the niche outlets Gold Derby and IndieWire. The publications that cover things of special interest to Oscar and Emmy voters are part of Penske Media Corporation.
Mr. Penske, a 43-year-old son of a billionaire, has expanded his company greatly in the last few years, pulling off a series of buy-low acquisitions that have turned him into a behind-the-scenes power broker. He has a controlling stake in the annual South by Southwest festival, as well as Rolling Stone and other publications.
The dean of the Chapman University film school said that Jay Penske has become the Rupert Murdoch of entertainment publications.
The flurry of deals, announced in a steady drumbeat of news releases, was not all that sexy given Mr. Penske's focus on old-school publications at a time when Substack and TikTok were hot topics in media circles.
The moves have made him a mogul who can shape the perception of Hollywood and its players. In recent years, his company has become a prime landing spot for the tens of millions of dollars spent annually on Oscars and Emmys advertising, a market that has heated up in recent years as streaming platforms spare no expense in their quest for prestige and attention.
Mr. Penske became a publisher after growing up as the youngest son of Roger Penske, a onetime professional racecar driver who started his business, Penske Corporation, after his racing days were done. The Penske name was inescapable because of the father's success. The family name is written on the side of one of the more than 360,000 trucks and vans belonging to his transportation fleet.
Jay Penske was one of the many scions who wanted to move to Los Angeles. Mr. Penske was driven by a desire to make the family name known for something other than his father's accomplishments.
Mr. Penske began publishing in earnest in 2009, when he bought Deadline Hollywood Daily, a take-no-prisoners entertainment news site. After a few years, it became apparent that his ambitions went beyond watching over a digital outlet, when he set his sights on Variety, the age-old show business publication that was challenged by the transition to online media.
Sandy Climan put him in touch with Daniel S. Loeb, a hedge fund investor, and the two hit it off over breakfast at the Montage Beverly Hills. Mr. Penske called Mr. Loeb to say he was close to a deal, but his financing had collapsed.
He is very close to his dad, Mr. Loeb said. I think Jay would have preferred to let the deal go off the rails before going to his dad.
Mr. Penske needed $26 million in debt and equity to complete the sale. Mr. Penske bought back his stake after Mr. Loeb invested in Variety.
He picked up faded properties at bargain-bin prices after acquiring Variety. He bought the owner of Women's Wear Daily from Cond. He acquired the remaining 49 percent of Rolling Stone after receiving a cash injection from a Saudi company. Mr. Penske bought most of the magazines in 2020.
He became a majority shareholder in the annual tech, film and music festival, which had run into money troubles because of the swine flu, last year. After being shut down for two years, it returned this month. Art in America, Dirt, Beauty Inc., and Spy were added by Mr. Penske.
Matthew Belloni, who leads entertainment industry coverage for a new publication, said that there are rooms that are not open to just any rich guy.
His penchant for privacy makes him stand out in an industry that rewards attention seekers. He avoids red carpet events, almost never gives interviews and has no social media presence.
Mr. Penske lives in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles with his wife, Elaine, a former Victoria's Secret and Calvin Klein model who was previously married to the rock star John Mellencamp, and their daughter. He has an apartment in New York and a private island in the Bahamas.
He grew up in New York City, New Jersey, and Michigan, where Penske Corporation is located. Tom Bernard, the co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, said that family vacations took place at Deer Valley in Utah, a ski resort that was partly owned by his father.
He excelled in hockey and lacrosse at a boarding school in New Jersey and a Catholic prep school in Michigan. In 1997 he was named an All-American lacrosse player. A photo of him still hangs in the athletic facility, showing him on the lacrosse field in his No. 7 jersey.
His father is revered in the racing world. He started Penske Corporation in 1969 after winning 55 races behind the wheel. The home of the Indy 500 is owned by one of his company's divisions. Team Penske's drivers have won more than 600 races. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The guests in the Oval Office looked on as the former President placed the medal around the man's neck.
After graduating from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Jay showed signs that he would go his own way. He moved to Los Angeles and started businesses that had nothing to do with the nuts, bolts and engine noise of the family trade. Firefly Mobile was the first company to offer phones with large buttons. He built Mail.com into an email portal business and eventually sold it for a profit.
A Scott Berg, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Charles Lindbergh and a National Book Award for his study of the editor Maxwell Perkins, was a friend and mentor to Mr Penske when he was new to Los Angeles. Mr. Berg said in an interview that he was struck by the younger man's dislike for Hollywood and the media.
Mr. Berg said that when he met Jay Penske, he viewed show business and magazines with contempt. Maybe he came to appreciate their work. I knew he was a serious bibliophile when I met him in the summer of 2002.
Mr. Penske opened a bookshop in the Beverly Glen neighborhood of Los Angeles. He named it after a collection of stories he loved as a child. Antiquarian book lovers liked the store's 18th-century French mantel, wood panelling and Doric columns. Mr. Berg wrote an article for Vanity Fair after the opening in 2006 in which two hundred people, including his parents, attended.
He became a serious reader of 19th-century novels while a serial prep-school expellee. He moved to Los Angeles in 2002 and discovered that he had only half of the 28,000 volumes he had. He often mans the cash register.
He wasn't completely detached from his father's world. Luczo Dragon Racing was started in 2007, with the investor Steve Luczo. Dragon Racing has competed in the Formula E racing series for electric cars for nearly a decade and is now owned and operated by Mr. Penske.
He bought Deadline in 2009. It was a rude digital upstart that made Variety and The Hollywood Reporter seem like house organs for the movie studios and talent agencies. Mr. Penske and Ms. Finke were able to get Mike Fleming from Variety. The minuscule staff at Deadline won the competition.
Two people discover a comet. The president of the United States pays attention to other things when she hears bad news.
A theater director grieves with the death of his wife, as he mounts a production of Uncle Vanya.
In Paul Thomas Anderson's coming-of-age romance, a child performer who has hit maximum adolescent awkwardness is aging out of his professional niche. The story gets juices going after his encounter with 20-something Alana.
A grifter with empty pockets and a mysterious past joins the world of 1930s back-road carnivals. He starts cycling through women, including a clairvoyant whose husband once had a successful mentalist act.
Phil Burbank has been raising cattle on his family's Montana ranch for decades. A lifelong family dynamic is disrupted when George's brother is married to a widow.
Steven Spielberg's remake of one of Broadway's most celebrated musicals is a modern take onRomeo and Juliet.
The media attention came with Mr. Penske's entree into the media business. At the age of 30 he was seen at parties in the company of the Benihana heiress, and was labeled the hard-partying Si Newhouse Wannabe of Bel by the gossip site.
Ms. Finke left Deadline because she preferred that Mr. Penske remained focused on Deadline rather than trying to revive a competitor. After mediation, she shut down the site and did not report on the entertainment industry. Ms. Finke didn't comment.
Mr. Fleming had nothing but praise for the publisher. Mr. Fleming said that Mr. Penske flew to New York to attend the wake for his father, who died from injuries sustained during Hurricane Sandy.
During the time that the visit took place, Mr. Penske had a lot to deal with. The year 2012 was when he was arrested. A woman approached Mr. Penske and his brother Mark while they were urinating in a parking lot outside the yacht club. The brothers tried to flee after the woman told the police.
Jay and his brother were found by an officer on the back staircase of an apartment building. The Penskes were locked up in a police station cell for a while. The incident was covered by many publications, with reports in Auto Week, The Daily Mail, and others.
When faced with public criticism, Mr. Penske has kept his silence. His purchase of a Black church in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles for $6.3 million came after. Mr. Penske's plan to convert it into a home for his family drew protests. He sold the property.
He accepted a $200 million investment from the Saudi Research and Media Group. The investment became a point of contention after the murder of a critic of the Saudi government in Turkey. The United States government concluded that the killing was carried out by a team reporting directly to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Even as his publications reported on the pressure faced by companies with financial ties to Saudi Arabia, Mr. Penske did not publicly address the investment. The Saudi Public Investment Fund is overseen by Prince Mohammed, not the Saudi Research and Media Group, as was reported in some articles. A number of Penske Media articles were updated to correct an error after The Wrap reported on it.
A Penske Media spokeswoman said in a statement that PMC has disclosed the small minority investment from SRMG to all of its stakeholders and brands. Every article a brand writes about Saudi Arabia is disclosed.
Dea Lawrence, the chief operating and marketing officer of Variety, said that Jay Penske came in and saved the business.
He flew to New York to meet with each new employee after the company bought a controlling stake. Mr. Thomas said that Mr. Penske knew a lot about him and his background.
Mr. Penske will sometimes play hardball. Mr. Penske stopped the move of a long-time Hollywood Reporter journalist to The Ankler, a subscription newsletter started by the show business writer Richard Rushfield. Mr. Penske held Ms. Siegel to the noncompete clause in her contract. The parties agreed that Ms. Siegel would decamp to Rolling Stone, with 80 percent of her work going to The Ankler.
Ms. Siegel said that Jay was the best owner she had worked under at The Hollywood Reporter.
Penske Media has a hold on entertainment coverage. The competition is reminiscent of a decade ago, when Deadline had the old guard quaking. Mr. Rushfield said that start-ups may have an advantage over entrenched publications because they are not beholden to anyone.
Mr. Rushfield said that it was hard to keep track of the number of things a studio had over you. People are needed for covers. The result is that publications with different business models and more aggressive reporting can elbow their way in.
Mr. Penske may be able to counter the newcomers with synergy. South by Southwest has given him another way to promote Penske. Rolling Stone hosted a concert at the latest iteration of the festival in Austin, Texas.
Variety published an article about the Austin Festival before the first day.
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