The drawn-out feud between Deadline Hollywood founder Nikki Finke and Jay Penske, who bought her site in 2009, has finally ended with her exit.
Finke said she’s setting up her new show business site, Nikkifinke.com, and will have it running early in the new year.
“I have no intention of hurting Deadline or competing with them,” she told The Post. “I never wanted to be a 24/7 news feed, and that is what they have become.”
“They will stand or fall on their own feet,” she added. “Jay Penske thinks he can run Deadline. We shall see.”
Penske originally tried to hold Finke to an employment contract that ran through 2016, and for awhile they tried to smooth things over but negotiations faltered.
“Jay Penske has just told me I am free to leave,” Finke tweeted late Tuesday. “He tried to buy my silence. No deal.”
Deadline.com senior editors Michael Fleming Jr. and Nellie Andreeva posted a note to readers on Tuesday night announcing the split.
“Despite attempts by all to have it go otherwise, Nikki Finke will no longer be leading Deadline Hollywood, and she will not be writing weekend box office or filing stories going forward,” the duo wrote.
“This is an emotional and painful parting of the ways for us.”
Earlier Finke said she intended to leave Deadline, the must-read Hollywood site she founded more than seven years ago, to return to her roots as a one-woman show. Her new site today appears to be in the very early stages.
“Nikkifinke.com is coming to Hollywood,” the site proclaimed. “Come for the cynicism. Stay for the subversion. Don’t steal Nikki’s scoops.”
Finke said she’s currently fielding offers via her business agent Peter Levin about affiliating with another media company to host the site but she was adamant about retaining full control.
“I am definitely going to have complete editorial and design control,” she said.
Despite months of legal letters fired back and forth, Finke said she expects no further legal action.
“I can’t imagine why there would be,” she said. “I have no non-compete agreement and no confidentiality agreement.”
A spokeswoman for Penske Media refused to elaborate on the arrangement that allowed Finke to leave.
Tensions between Finke and Penske have been simmering since last fall, when he purchased struggling Hollywood trade Variety. Finke liked to take shots at her trade rival and consistently mocked its coverage.
Deadline.com, which had several hundred visitors a month when she sold it in 2009, has consistently outranked Variety in recent years.
With estimated revenue of $12 to $15 million and a 75 percent profit margin, one source said it would cost in the $120 million range to buy it, but Penske said he no interest in selling.
As the feud dragged on through the summer, the always reclusive Finke spent much of her time in Hawaii, where she continued to blog for the site, albeit not at quite the same frenetic pace as earlier.
Deadline’s Fleming and Andreeva said the site will continue on without Finke.
“Businesses evolve and change, and we’ve learned that no one is indispensable. We will be adding a few significant hires to our staff imminently and, though we will never completely replace Nikki’s unique voice, we will continue ahead, charging hard, breaking every story possible.
“On behalf of everyone at PMC and Deadline Hollywood, we wish her well and appreciate the opportunity to have worked alongside her.”