What is Jay Penske’s net worth?
Jay Penske is an American media and publishing entrepreneur who has a net worth of $250 million. Jay is the founder and CEO of the Penske Media Corporation (PMC) which owns dozens of prominent publications, including:
- Variety
- Deadline
- Rolling Stone
- Artnews
- Robb Report
- Dirt.com
- Women’s Wear Daily
PMC is also the majority owner of the annual South by Southwest music, film and technology festival.
Early Life
Jay Penske was born in New York City in 1979. Jay is one of five children born to Roger Penske, the multi-billionaire founder of the Penske Corporation. The Penske empire is vast. The largest and most public holdings are the publicly traded Penske Automotive Group, which owns the ubiquitous orange rental trucks that dot American highways (there are over 360,000 trucks in the fleet), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar racing. There are dozens of additional automotive-related business ventures under the Pensky corporate umbrella.
Jay is one of three children born to Kathy Pensky, Roger’s second wife. Roger has two children from a previous marriage. The family lived in New Jersey, New York City and the Detroit suburbs where his father’s business is headquartered and where Jay graduated from St. Mary’s Preparatory.
Education
He was a standout lacrosse player for St. Mary’s, setting records for most goals, assists, and points in school history. He was named Player of the Year by USA Today and was an All-American in 2017. He is the only player in lacrosse history to average 10 points per game and to score more than 200 points in a single season.
After high school Jay enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Management Information Systems.
Firefly Mobile
After graduating from college, Jay co-founded Firefly Mobile, Inc. a wireless company that developed phones for children. One of the company’s earliest products won an innovation award at CES 2006.
Today Jay is probably most well known for being the founder, Chairman, and CEO of digital media and publishing company Penske Media Corporation (PMC).
Founded in 2003 as Velocity Services, Inc., one of the company’s first acquisitions was the domain name Mail.com. Upon this purchase, the company name was changed to Mail.com Media Corporation (MMC). In 2010 the Mail.com domain and email portal business was sold to a German company, yielding a reported $50 – 100 million profit.
Deadline: In 2009 he purchased the website Deadline Hollywood Daily, which today is better known as Deadline.com.
Variety: In October 2012, Jay used a $26 million loan from hedge fund billionaire Dan Loeb to finance the acquisition of Variety Magazine.
WWD: In 2014, the newly named Penkse Media Corporation (PMC) paid $100 million to Conde Nast to acquire its Fairfield Fashion Media division, which included publications Women’s Wear Daily and Footwear News.
Rolling Stone: In January 2017, PMC bought 51% of Rolling Stone magazine from the publication’s founder Jann Wenner for an undisclosed amount. In 2019 it bought Jann’s remaining 49%.
In February 2019, PMC took on a $200 million investment from the Saudi Research and Media Group. The company used this injection to finance the previously mentioned 49% purchase of Rolling Stone.
Hollywood Reporter: In 2020, PMC bought 80% of parent company of The Hollywood Reporter, Vibe and Billboard.
South by Southwest: In April 2021, PMC bought a majority ownership stake in the South by Southwest music, film and technology festival that takes place every year in Austin.
(Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Personal Life
In October 2012 Jay proposed to model Elaine Irwin. They are married and have a daughter. Before her marriage to Penske, Elaine was married to rock musician John Mellencamp for 18 years. They married when she was 23 years old, just 10 weeks after the first met when she was hired to appear on his album cover and in a music video. Elaine and John have two children.
Real Estate
Jay, Elaine and their family live in LA’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood. They own an apartment in Manhattan and a private island in the Bahamas.
In 2015 they sold a home in Bel-Air for $7.25 million. According to real estate records, Jay appeared to have bought the property where this home sits back in 2003 for $1.95 million.
In 2017 Jay and Elaine pad $6.3 million for what had previously been a Black church in Venice, California. After submitting plans to turn the church into a private residence they met fierce protest. They ultimately withdrew their plans and sold the property.