• by Fern Siegel , November 11, 2009

James Finkelstein's News Communications has bought several Nielsen trade titles -- The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Adweek, Mediaweek and Brandweek -- according to a knowledgeable source.

The story, first reported in The Wrap, said that News Communications, which also owns the Washington, D.C.-based trade paper The Hill, among other properties, had purchased the struggling weeklies.

When asked for confirmation, Gerry Byrne, who heads the entertainment division of Nielsen Business Media, emailed the Wrap a "no comment."

Nielsen has been trying to sell the historic Hollywood Reporter for over a year, in addition to its other 41 trades, which include Editor & Publisher and Back Stage.

All the Nielsen magazines have suffered in this brutal publishing climate, enduring big hits in revenue and readership. Hollywood Reporter, like its siblings, tried massive staff cuts. The big studios have also cut back on the lucrative "for your consideration" Oscar campaign, a major revenue generator.

Nielsen originally bought the magazines for 13x earnings. Speculation is that the company sold it for far less. The current industry average is around 7x earnings for media properties.

The Hollywood Reporter once had revenues of $20 million a year. It is well off that sum now -- as are most BtoB enterprises -- possibly at $9 million or lower, according to estimates.

News Communications executives did not respond to inquiries.

In the late 1970s, James Finkelstein founded The National Law Journal, an outgrowth of the New York Law Journal, which he sold in 1998 to American Lawyer Media.