It happened: Guggenheim Partners, which owns the Hollywood Reporter and Billboard has bought — with minority partners– Dick Clark Productions. That means trade magazines that are supposed to cover awards shows now own them–the Golden Globes and the American Music Awards, among others. I don’t know how this is going to work. Guggenheim’s partners are Peter Guber’s Mandalay and Mosaic Media — the latter is run by the former chief of Dick Clark Productions, Allen Shapiro. But it’s Guggenheim’s money. They also own the Los Angeles Dodgers. More to come, because this still has to be approved by federal regulatory agencies. It will be interesting to see if anyone in Hollywood puts in a formal objection. They sure should try.
PS Variety and various blogs are reporting the story, but so far Nikki Finke’s Deadline.com is just ignoring the whole thing. Hilarious. It’s like waiting for a volcano to explode.
One other thing: all these years, the members of Hollywood Foreign Press has been accused of not really being journalists. Maybe now their work will turn up in THR, Billboard, and Adweek. Or maybe not.
UPDATE: This is hilarious. Deadline just put up the story but excised all mention of Guggenheim owning the Hollywood Reporter or Billboard. Too bizarre.
http://www.deadline.com/2012/09/guggenheim-partners-led-group-reaches-agreement-to-buy-dick-clark-prods/
