Deadline Hollywood Daily sold for several million dollars; LA Weekly to hire new showbiz blogger

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In March 2006, Nikki Finke started Deadline Hollywood Daily as an outlet for scoops that couldn’t wait for her column in LA Weekly. She initially earned nothing extra for the blog.

Today she has sold the site, which she owns entirely, to Mail.com Media Group in a deal worth several million dollars.

‘I have really sacrificed, but it was a conscious decision and I love doing this,’ Finke said of the experience.

According to a person familiar with the terms, Finke, the site’s sole owner and writer-editor, will get a low seven-figure sum to sell Deadline Hollywood Daily plus several million dollars over the life of a five-year-plus employment contract. The deal also grants her a portion of the site’s advertising revenue.

Though it took its name from Finke’s column in the paper, LA Weekly had no ownership stake in Deadline Hollywood Daily. The Village Voice Media-owned publication simply sold ads and, after the site started to grow, paid Finke a stipend.

Once Deadline Hollywood Daily officially becomes part of Mail.com Media Group in a few weeks, the paper’s online operation will take what LA Weekly Publisher Beth Sestanovich admitted would be a ‘traffic hit.’ While Finke will probably continue to write her column for the paper, Sestanovich said the paper will be hunting for a new entertainment blogger.

‘Well probably do something more that’s more mainstream pop culture,’ Sestanovich said. ‘There’s probably nobody who can touch her as an insider.’

For more on Mail.com Media Group owner Jay Penske and his plan to build a mini-media empire on the Web, read this article in Wednesday’s Los Angeles Times.

-- Ben Fritz