Michael Ausiello is about to join Nikki Finke and Bonnie Fuller in the MMC Corporation empire.
The Entertainment Weekly columnist announced that he will leave the magazine to launch his own TV site for MMC via an "exclusive" post on Monday. MMC also owns Finke's Deadline.com, Fuller's Hollywoodlife.com and Movieline.
"Although I know there will probably be a lot of rumors about why I’m really making the change—mainly involving Annie Barrett pushing me out—don’t believe them … It’s simply time for me to do something that scares the you-know-what outta me," Ausiello said.
Penske purchased Deadline.com from Finke in June 2009. Since then, he's spearheaded the relaunches of Hollywoodlife and Movieline. In recent months, Deadline has brought on a lot of new talent including ex-THR TV editor Nellie Andreeva, "breathtaking!" "four star!" blurbmaster Pete Hammond and former Variety executive editor Mike Speier.
