Variety's sale by Reed Elsevier Group plc brought to an end a going-out-of-business sale conducted by the Reed Business Information-US unit of the Dutch-Anglo conglomerate. The three-year sales effort, aimed at transforming RBI-US into a provider of data services rather than a B2B publisher, resulted in the selling or shuttering of 50 B2B titles.

Variety itself took seven months to sell, as an auction managed by Evercore Partners Inc. produced front-runner after front-runner. In recent weeks, however, the short list pitted Los Angeles digital publisher PMC against New York investment firm Avenue Capital Management LP.

The $25 million sales price suggests a buyer's market if, as reported by The Los Angeles Times, Variety's on track to generate full-year revenue of $45 million. The headwinds encountered by the iconic trade are evident from a revenue figure of $92 million reported for the publication six years ago.

PMC's victory brings Variety into a digital publishing stable that already includes Deadline, Hollywood Life, Movieline and TVLine. The infrastructure in place for these online brands is the handiwork of auto-racing scion Jay Penske, who in 2004 began acquiring and launching various blogs.

In 2009, a year after raising $35 million of venture capital financing, Penske bought Deadline from Nikki Finke, its creator and continuing editor in chief, and acquired the old print title Hollywood Life, which he took online and induced seasoned editor Bonnie Fuller to helm as president. These online brands, to no small degree, account for Variety's erosion as a financial performer and news deliverer in recent years.

Mike Fleming, a star reporter for Variety until jumping to Deadline in January 2010, has already written a post about the "understandably apprehensive" turn caused by the reunification of "my former colleagues and the newer staff." But he also expressed relief that Variety now has an "opportunity to be reinvigorated."

Fleming isn't the only ex-Variety star at PMC. Gerry Byrne, who was the trade's publisher in the go-go decade preceding the millennium, not only serves as PMC's vice chairman but also as a company director. Byrne couldn't be reached for comment, but a source familiar with PMC said its management team couldn't be happier about what it perceives to be a "transformative transaction."

The source added that PMC's plans for Variety will likely be implemented sooner rather than later, even though the L.A. Times quoted Penske as being uncertain about what changes he has in mind. The paper also reported that Variety will be run without input from Deadline chief Finke, who has publicly feuded with the print-dominated trade, but that notion could have been advanced primarily to appease Variety staffers as they enter a new era.

Third Point LLC, the New York hedge fund founded by Daniel Loeb, provided debt and equity financing for Variety's purchase. The Evercore team of financial advisers retained by RBI for the trade's sale consisted of Jonathan Knee, Jason Sobol, Nathan Graf, Jaison Thomas, Jeanna Liu and Emily Zhou.