27 feb 2018 año - EXCLUSIVE
Jay Penske said to get
$200M investment
from Saudi fund
Descripción:
Jay Penske said to get $200M investment from Saudi fund
By Alexandra Steigrad
Jay Penske has sold a minority stake of his media company, Penske Media Corp., to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, The Post has learned.
The fund has invested “over $200 million cash — with another $25 million being invested in a joint venture in the Middle East and North African region, according to a source close to the company.
It could not be immediately learned how large a stake PIF will receive in PMC, which owns Variety, WWD and in December bought a controlling stake in Rolling Stone — but one industry source said the cash infusion valued Penske’s company at around $1 billion.
A PMC spokeswoman would not comment on any possible investment but confirmed that Penske continues to control “well in excess of 51 percent of the company.”
Reached by The Post on Tuesday, Penske, the company chairman and chief executive, would not comment on any possible deal.
While I won’t comment on the investment and its details, I’m so proud that PMC has built a business recognized by this level of capital,” Penske said in a brief interview. “We’ve succeeded not by hype, number of users or the future promise of the business; instead, our success is based on earnings and results as well as one of the finest teams in media.”
The Saudi-based PIF, perhaps best known for its technology investments, has recently been in talks with virtual reality company Magic Leap for a $400 million investment, according to reports.
PIF was also lead investor in SoftBank’s $100 billion tech fund, the Vision Fund, in which it committed $45 billion of capital. PIF was also the lead investor in Blackstone’s $40 billion infrastructure fund, in which it committed $20 billion.
In more consumer-facing deals, PIF made a $3.5 billion investment in Uber, as well as a $1 billion cash infusion in Virgin’s space companies.
Penske has been following a plan of scooping up distressed media properties — as in the Rolling Stone deal — the majority of which have a broader cultural significance in entertainment and fashion.
Founded in 2004, PMC began as a software/media company that provided digital media services to brands. Two years later, Penske, who is the son of billionaire Roger Penske, began operating and building its own media portfolio with mail.com — sold in 2010 — and Nikki Finke’s Deadline.com in 2009.
Three years later, PMC bought Variety, the struggling Hollywood trade, from Reed Elsevier, and Women’s Wear Daily, the fashion trade paper, from Condé Nast in 2014.
Penske also scooped up the Robb Report, a niche luxury magazine, from Dan Gilbert, the owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and Quicken Loans, in 2016.
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