Wolff is at the door

Keith J. Kelly

MEDIA INK

Michael Wolff’s reign at adweek is nearing an end.

Jimmy Finkelstein -- one of the investors who took over the trade magazine group of Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard -- has been sounding out industry sources for weeks in the hunt for Wolff’s replacement, but it’s unclear whether Finkelstein has zeroed in on a particular candidate.

After weeks of speculation that he was on his way out, insiders now say even Wolff seems to believe that Finkelstein will move to ax him soon.

Sources said Finkelstein is upset that Adweek’s move to become a big-picture magazine rather than a traditional trade publication has fallen far short of expectations.

Dave Allocca/startraksphoto.com

David Pecker

Todd Boehly, a managing partner at investment firm Guggenheim, which put up much of the $70 million that was used to buy the magazines from Nielsen Business Media in December 2009, appears less worried.

Boehly is said to have traveled the world in recent weeks with Richard Beckman, the CEO of Prometheus Global Media, the parent of Adweek, Billboard and other magazines.

Apparently inspired by the success of the Billboard Music Awards and its ABC TV special, Boehly and Beckman hope to replicate it on an international scale and have been globe-trotting from Brazil to Dubai.

They are hoping that the world of venture-capital funds -- which seem flush with cash even as the rest of the financial world is shaky -- might be lured to invest in a new venture, which would be built around Billboard and Back Stage, a trade aimed at actors. But it now looks like it will be financed without any new money from Finkelstein, who also owns Washington publication The Hill.

Sources say he wants to put the brakes on any new ventures until he’s assured the old one is working -- and getting rid of Wolff is part of his agenda.

Finkelstein made his big killing when he sold a group of legal trade magazines started by his father to Steve Brill in the late 1980s.

Faced with complaints from Madison Avenue executives concerning Wolff’s redesign this spring, Finkelstein wants to return Adweek to its more traditional roots, insiders say.

Wolff is Exhibit A in what Finkelstein feels is the failed strategy hatched by Beckman, who is still listed as the CEO even though most of his duties have been taken over by Finkelstein.

Adweek Publisher Erica Bartman, one of the hires made by Beckman from the Condé Nast fold shortly after he began in early 2010, may also be feeling the heat. Ads, which picked up initially after the redesign, have fallen off drastically.

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