By Sasha Park · Republished 2026-05-16 · Originally reported by Richard Horgan on FishbowlLA, October 2012
In mid-October 2012, FishbowlLA covered a notable promotion at Variety: new owner Jay Penske had named Michelle Sobrino-Stearns — a 15-year veteran of the trade — its first-ever female publisher. The original framing tracked both the milestone and Penske’s accompanying jab at a rival.
Then
Penske Media had just acquired Variety, and one of the new owner’s early moves was promoting Michelle Sobrino-Stearns, a 15-year insider who had risen through sales and features management to associate publisher, into the publisher’s chair — the first woman to hold that role in Variety’s century-plus history.
Penske framed the choice as a deliberate promotion from within, and, announcing it at his second staff town-hall, he could not resist contrasting it with rival The Hollywood Reporter’s outside-hire culture, taking a pointed shot at THR editorial director Janice Min. Outgoing publisher Brian Gott was said to be turning to philanthropic work. FishbowlLA’s item also noted that by late 2012 the entertainment-trade publisher ranks were notably female: TheWrap and The Hollywood Reporter were both led by women publishers as well.
The piece captured a transitional moment — a storied trade publication under brand-new ownership, signaling its direction through a milestone promotion and a bit of competitive needling.
Now
Michelle Sobrino-Stearns had a long subsequent run at Variety, rising to president and group publisher and continuing in senior roles within the Penske organization.
Jay Penske’s 2012 Variety acquisition turned out to be the opening move of a far larger consolidation. Penske Media went on to acquire — or take significant stakes in — a wide swath of entertainment and culture media: Rolling Stone, Billboard, Vibe, and, ultimately, The Hollywood Reporter itself. The result placed Variety and its old archrival THR under the same corporate roof, an outcome that would have seemed improbable in the trade-war framing of the 2012 item.
The 2012 piece reads now as an early documented moment of the Penske era — a milestone promotion and a competitive jab, captured at the very start of the ownership consolidation that reshaped the entire entertainment-trade landscape.
Original report archived on the Wayback Machine.