IndyCar enthusiast and media mogul Jay Penske is facing a hairpin turn this week.
The 34-year-old entrepreneur is set to meet with the board of his Penske Media Corp in the next several days as his troublesome business relationship with Nikki Finke, the star blogger for Penske’s Deadline.com, is about to come to a head, The Post has learned.
Finke, who is said to be bristling under Penske’s management of the website, feels the terms of her employment contract have been broken and is eyeing a Sept. 3 exit, according to a letter a lawyer for the star journalist delivered to Penske late last week, sources said.
Finke, the founder, general manager and editor-in-chief of the site, wants to take back Deadline.com. And, if Penske refuses, she is ready, according to several sources, to start serious talks with potential backers to launch a news destination under the NikkiFinke.com brand, which some value at around $2 million.
“There’s going to be a big public brawl,” said one person close to the situation.
Penske, in some senses, has been a unique backer, given his willingness to give Finke full editorial control at the site. A new backer may not be so willing.
Peter Levin, of Gyl, a tech-focused investment portfolio and Finke’s business adviser, declined to comment. Levin has been fielding inquiries from parties who got wind recently that Finke could be on the market.
They include the New York Observer, Baseline’s Hollywood.com, and venture capitalist Ken Lerer, who built Huffington Post, sources said.
Penske, who bought Variety last October, and Finke have been at odds over how Deadline.com, which Penske bought in 2009, has been funded. Finke is angry that Deadline was starved of resources while other properties got cash to hire staff and expand, sources said.
Finke, with an annual salary said to be about $1 million, has been rumored to be headed toward the exit since June, when TheWrap.com, a Deadline rival, reported Penske had fired her. That report was strongly denied by both parties, and Finke has filed stories for the site since.
Finke declined to comment on any matter related to her contract. Penske also declined to comment. After the June brouhaha, Penske Media said it has a long-term contract with Finke and intends to honor it.
One person described the state of the current relationship as “tenuous as usual.”
If the Finke situation isn’t enough to put a damper on Penske’s late summer, the business owner is also being forced to deal with a reportedly unhappy investor in Quadrangle Capital Partners and a financial crisis in India that is rocking the value of his investments there.
Quadrangle, which is winding down its interests, won’t invest any more in the mini-media empire, which also includes a YouTube channel among scores of blogs, sources said.