Where in the world is Nikki Finke?
The merciless chronicler of Hollywood exited Deadline.com late last year after a well-publicized flame-out with her boss with plans to re-launch her headline-making news machine under her own banner come the New Year.
The new site — nikkifinke.com — did appear on time with the seductive strap line: “Come for the cynicism. Stay for the subversion. Don’t steal Nikki’s scoops,” complete with a bright red trickle of blood.
Fans got encouraged. But then nothing happened, and Finke has been strangely quiet.
It’s been 141 days and counting — from Oct. 27 — her last Deadline byline.
Finke live-snarked the Oscars and proved she still has an edge, with her hilarious observations such as: “So many Oscars for ‘Gravity’ tonight. Will coming NY Times bl** j** on [Warner boss] Kevin Tsujihara even mention he didn’t want it?” — a reference to the fact that he wanted to pass on the film but another executive green-lighted it.
Delayed from a Jan. 1 return, the Wellesley-educated firebrand is preparing for a June comeback, sources said, after the last of all potential threats of non-compete violations with Jay Penske’s PMC, her former employer, evaporate.
But with all things in the Finke-Penske battle, everything is contested. For example, PMC is counting Finke’s weekend box office reports on Twitter as re-starting the non-compete countdown, further pushing back a possible start date, sources said.
Surprisingly, despite all the burned bridges between Finke and PMC, the two sides believe there is still a possible road open between them, and they are discussing a possible Deadline comeback for the famed blogger, sources said.
“There aren’t many jobs in journalism where you can earn upwards of a million dollars a year,” one source whispered, giving one reason for the talks.
Meanwhile, PMC’s Variety may be the largest beneficiary of Finke’s absence. Variety was ranked No. 2 in January and February among entertainment outlets, behind The Hollywood Reporter, according to comScore. Deadline was frequently in the No. 2 media site in the sector.
Nevertheless, Deadline’s traffic is surprisingly static at around 2.5 million unique views per month — but when mobile usage is factored in, Deadline fares better since agents and studio executives live on their phones.
If the Finke-Penske talks don’t end with a new deal, the blogger is ready to fire up NikkiFinke.com for a June start.
Finke is said to have a $5 million funding commitment from an unknown financial backer. She had been in talks with Ken Lehrer and Jahm Najafi, The Post’s Keith Kelly reported in September.
Finke tweeted that she met in her apartment with Vanity Fair’s editor, Graydon Carter, leading to speculation he is interested in a deal with Finke. She is telling friends she is undecided over whether to return to Deadline.com or to strike out on her own again.
In an interview Finke gave to David Blum, editor of Kindle Singles, she said of her future: “I only want to do what I want to do. I have millions. What journalist has ever thought they’d have millions?”
“This is not something I’m going to discuss with you,” Finke said when reached recently by The Post. Penske declined to comment.