Nikki Finkescary entertainment columnist, whose steadfast style and sharp tongues helped develop Limit line, the commerce website she founded in 2006 and became one of Hollywood’s most important news sources, passed away Sunday morning. Not surprisingly, Limit line first reported the news, adding that Finke had been battling a prolonged, unspecified illness.
She is 68 years old.
Jay Penske, founder and chief executive officer of Penske Media Corp., which acquired Finke’s, said: “At her best, Nikki Finke has shown the spirit of journalism and has never been shy. tell incomprehensible truths. The site is in development in 2009.
“She was so crude and righteous. It was never easy for Nikki, but she will always be one of the most memorable people in my life.”
Finke excelled at some of the most business journalism outlets in the world before arriving in Los Angeles, including Moscow for the Associated Press and Washington, DC, for Newsweek. She first peered into the inner workings of Tinseltown in 2002, starting a column called “Deadline Hollywood” for LA weekly.
After buying a domain name for “$14 and changing,” the Long Island native has become known for her edgy monopolies, insider analysis, and the annual “live” of the Oscars. Despite her immense popularity, to the point of being included Forbes On the “World’s Most Powerful Women” list, this blogger is a legendary recluse – never meeting her sources in person and staying away from movie screenings.
When Penske’s company, then known as Mail.com Media Corp., acquired Deadline for the lowest reported seven-figure sum in 2009, Finke signed an agreement that allowed her to continue as generalist. website editor. But increasing difficulties – including shifting the housewife style away from her trademark ethos as more writers were brought in – led to frequent clashes between management and “the scariest writer” in Hollywood, like LA time christened her in 2011.
Finke jumped ship in 2013 to found NikkiFinke.com a year later. When that closed, she moved on to create HollywoodDementia.com, a platform for short fiction about show business.
However, she followed the deadline and published her last post on the site in 2016, around the time of the site’s 10th anniversary. “I don’t mean to be a troublemaker,” she reflects, with more than a hint of pride. “Or an internet journalist who created something out of nothing that put the Hollywood business back on its heels, and today, owned by Penske Media, is a website worth over 100 millions of dollars.”
“Or,” added Finke, “a woman with bronze balls, a goddamn attitude, and a ruthless hustle, who told puzzling truths about the tycoons and who made the main report. the corpses of the first spoons.”
In 2006, MarketWatch quotes the mystery columnist as saying that she wants to be buried with the greats of the screen at Pierce Brothers Cemetery in Westwood. “On my gravestone it might say: ‘She told the truth about Hollywood,'” Finke told the outlet.
