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Not Finke the reporter, but her website Deadline Hollywood Daily — though they are really one and the same. The Wrap's Sharon Waxman tries to figure out what the site is worth in the wake of Finke's claim of an overture from the head of the Variety Group at Reed Business Information. Waxman:
With steady traffic of 200,000 monthly uniques and a male audience of educated and economically desirable readers, she would probably get a premium.One analyst suggested she’d get about $2 per unique, or about $400,000, at most. I am told with good authority that the former publisher of Variety, Charlie Koones, was willing to pay $500,000 a couple of years ago.
Another company that looked at buying the site, which is owned by Nikki and not the L.A. Weekly, said that they went away after she refused to put ‘cookies’ on her site that would provide more data about her readership. She has told me recently that a couple of offers outside of the Variety discussion are still on the table, and one of them may still happen. “It may not,” she said evasively. “I’m very picky."
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Beyond cash, any company purchasing DHD must measure the emotional cost of getting into business with Nikki Finke. She is a handful by any measure, and will not be controlled by any boss. (You might ask LA Weekly’s editor Laurie Ochoa about that.) Many wonder that her aggressive invective has never led to a lawsuit. And I can state with certainty that the flacks of Hollywood live in terror of her calls.
Ah, the Nikki factor. Definitely could cut both ways for a portential buyer. Temp X, the anonymous blogger at Hollywood Temp Diaries, posted an amusing skirmish with Finke the other day.
But today's strangest Hollywood story is: Sean Penn (Larry), Jim Carrey (Curly) and Benicio del Toro (Moe) as the Three Stooges, channeled through the Farrelly Brothers. Hollywood Reporter, NPR