Keith Kelly at the Post reports that Reed Elsevier has cut the asking price for Hollywood trade rag Variety to under $30 million, from over $40 million. The leading bidders include Jay Penske’s Penske Media Corporation, which owns Nikki Finke’s Deadline and Bonnie Fuller’s Hollywood Life, and would, Mr. Kelly speculates, benefit from ensuring no rival can revamp the attenuated, paywall-restricted Variety.
Variety and The Hollywood Reporter historically battled as the movie industry’s two top trades, but THR, in the era of editor Janice Min, has become a more general-interest magazine, while sites like Deadline garner the scoops that the trades once received. Variety has valuable real estate but a precarious position–it’s the last of its kind.
