In 2004, Penske established the media and publishing company PMC, Penske Media Corporation. Its initial focus was leveraging digital technology to help evolve and transform offline and traditional media brands to the web. In 2005, Penske acquired the URL Mail.com and began building what became one of the largest email businesses in the world. When asked his rationale for building an email business, Penske's shared that his goal was to drive more traffic into the growing portfolio of media brands he was creating and acquiring. By the mid-2000s, PMC was the operator and owner of BGR, OnCars.com, Movieline, MailTimes, in addition to the 5th largest email business in the United States: Mail.com. [8]
By late 2007, with the launch of Gmail by Google, Penske went to find a home for the company's email business. In late 2009 he came to an agreement to sell Mail.com. The deal was finally complete as Penske sold Mail.com in 2010 at a profit to the German media company United Internet. Penske immediately took the proceeds from the sale to invest into scaling the publishing and content business and tripling the brands from 5 to 16 by early 2015.
In 2012, Penske cemented his publishing empire in Los Angeles with the purchase of the then struggling Variety from Reed Elsevier (RELX plc). In attempting to acquire Variety, Penske called on every leading private equity fund and hedgefund in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles to obtain backing. Penske met Dan Loeb and Third Point during this time and Third point ended up replacing Shamrock Holdings as Penske's partners as Shamrock, an LA-based Private Equity Fund pulled-out of the deal with Penske because of Variety's growing losses. Third Point funded Penske's ambition and lent him $26 million in debt and equity. Penske bought Third Point out at a massive profit in 2020, which Dan Loeb has publicly described as one of Third Point's greatest investments and returns in the fund's history. [9]
Upon acquiring Variety in 2012, Penske immediately appointed Claudia Eller, who he poached from the LA Times, and since PMC's acquisition of Variety, the brand doubled the total amount of journalists. Additionally, Penske promoted Michelle Sobrino, the first woman in Variety's 107-year history to publisher. Penske is known for hiring more female leaders to run his businesses than male executives, which he credits for many of the brands turnaround successes. [10] [11]
In 2014, Penske pushed further into NY media and acquired the "Fashion Bible" from Conde Nast, Fairchild Publishing. Penske acquired WWD from Conde Nast for $100m, gutting the previous price Conde had paid years earlier for Fairchild and WWD of $700 million. This is believed to be the first major publishing asset that the Newhouse family ever sold. Penske commented that without a successful NY media presence at scale, PMC could never properly compete with its rivals at Hearst Communications, Conde Nast and Time Inc. [12] [13] [14]
In early 2015, Penske also began traveling to India every 3-to-4 weeks, in pursuit of establishing an India based version of PMC. Penske found a like-minded entrepreneur in Subhash Chandra, owner and founder of India's largest media company ZEEtv. Penske and Chandra created India.com Media Corporation; a joint venture owned 50/50 by the partners. Penske and his PMC team led the operations and built IMC to be the number 2 digital media business in India before selling their stake to Zee in 2018. PMC has no current ownership interest in India.com, as it sold its interest to Zee Media, India's largest media company as well as 6 other sites in India in 2018. [15]
IndieWire, the leader in independent film/tv coverage, has tripled its editorial staff since PMC's acquisition in 2016. Also in 2016, Penske became controlling shareholder of The Robb Report in December, as it bought control from Dan Gilbert, owner of Quicken Loans, Rocket Mortgage and the Cleveland Cavaliers. [16] [17]
In 2017, Penske acquired a majority interest in Rolling Stone, from the Wenner family. Becoming only the second owner in history of the iconic music, politics, and culture title. Penske believed much more was possible with the brand digitally and through live events. [18]
In June 2020, Jay Penske founded Sportico (Business of Sports) with editor Scott Soshnick. Sportico was at the time the second most widely read business of sports website. [19]
In September 2020, Penske Media Corporation acquired The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and Vibe for $225 million. PMC, which also owns Variety, Rolling Stone, and Music Business Worldwide, gained control of these media brands as part of the purchase. Billboard, established in 1894, experienced its most successful year in history within two years of the acquisition. After the deal was finalized, the Department of Justice's antitrust division investigated the transaction but chose not to take action, determining it did not constitute a monopoly. Each publication under PMC continues to operate independently, with separate newsrooms, financial reporting, and business staff. [20]
PMC has a 50% stake in SXSW and is the majority shareholder (acquired in April 2021). [21]
PMC also owns Luminate, the leading music data platform, and is the combination of the former SoundScan, Nielsen Music Data, MRC Data, Alpha Data and Variety's Business Intelligence operations. [22] [23]
Penske Media Corporation owns: Music brands: Billboard, Billboard Music Charts, Rolling Stone, Vibe, SXSW, and Luminate the largest music data company) Entertainment Brands: Hollywood/Film/TV (The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Deadline, IndieWire, TVLine, Gold Derby) Art Brands (ARTnews, Art in America, Artforum) and Fashion Brands: (Fairchild Media - Women's Wear Daily, FN, BeautyInc, Sourcing Journal as well as SHE Media brand, StyleCaster, Rivet). [24]
In addition, to his role as Chairman, Founder and CEO of Penske Media Corporation, Jay Penske has created and founded the following PMC Brands and companies during its history, Mail.com, India.com, MailTimes, TVLine, Sportico and Luminate. Jay Penske is also the CEO of Dick Clark Productions. [1]
Penske in 2023 was declared by the Los Angeles Magazine on its cover to be "one of the most powerful publishers in the world", and has been compared to William Randolph Hearst, S.I. Newhouse, and Rupert Murdoch for his acquisition and portfolio of media brands. [25] [26] [27]
