Jimmy Finkelstein — co-owner of The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Adweek — is one of two final bidders for cash-strapped Variety, The Post has learned.
All three Finkelstein publications compete with Variety, the entertainment industry leader.
Billionaire Ron Burkle is the other suitor still in the running, a source close to the situation said.
Reed Business Information announced in March that it was selling the 107-year-old magazine.
Despite its position atop the Tinseltown trades, it has been less than a frothy auction. Variety, started in 1905 in New York City, could fetch around $40 million, the source said.
Finkelstein is bidding as chairman of Prometheus Global Media, a media conglomerate formed by his Pluribus Capital Management along with Guggenheim Partners.
Since Prometheus bought THR in 2009, Finkelstein has eliminated its daily version and is focusing on its weekly glossy edition and Internet presence.
The investor could do the opposite with Variety, keeping its daily and merging its weekly with THR.
Of course, he could just eliminate the print version of Variety and build a Web presence for its popular classified section, the source said.
As of September 2011, Variety’s daily circulation was 23,655, while its weekly was 21,594.
The glossy THR weekly edition as of March 2011 had 72,007 readers, according to BPA Worldwide.
A Finkelstein spokeswoman declined comment. Reed Business did not return calls.