Scoop: HFPA Reboots, Upends Golden Globes Ownership by Penske-Boehly
As California's AG withholds deal approval, the voting body required to dissolve for the transaction reverses course and is seeking to oust Helen Hoehne
The fate of the Golden Globes just took a dramatic turn, as the organization’s purported ownership — in a deal yet to be approved by California Attorney General Rob Bonta after two years — just had one of its primary conditions of the transaction unwound by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA).
I have learned exclusively that the HFPA voted to reconstitute itself on Monday, two years after the group was disbanded. That dissolution was a necessary step in the negotiation to have Jay Penske and Todd Boehly, the buyers of the Golden Globes, acquire the awards show and its assets.
The move could potentially lead to the unwinding of the deal, leaving the long-troubled awards show in a state of ownership and legal limbo.
It was two years ago — after multiple controversies, including a lack of diversity among its membership and various, well-documented ethical lapses — that the end of the 80-year-old Hollywood Foreign Press Association was announced. In its place, a newly formed group, the Golden Globes Foundation, was unveiled with headlines like:
Well, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of their dissolution were greatly exaggerated. Two years later, the approximately 60 remaining members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association have sprung back to life, voting to reconstitute their board, reinstate its members, and begin a process to reexamine the deal with Penske and Boehly.
Following the publication of this story, I also confirmed that Jeff Harris and Dr. Joanna Dodd Massey, two of the three external members of the HFPA board who were appointed in 2021, had resigned. TheWrap first reported the exits of Harris and Dodd Massey.
When the deal was announced in 2023, the reported dissolution of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, owners of the Golden Globes, initiated the process of an asset transfer to Penske Media Eldridge (PME), a joint venture between Penske Media and Boehly’s Eldridge Industries, and the owner of Golden Globes producer Dick Clark Productions.
However, while the 2023 vote was portrayed as the end of the organization (see headlines above), it was, in fact, just the first step in a long process that would, after the transaction was finalized, culminate in dissolution.
However, that transaction was contingent upon approval of the deal by the office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, which has oversight authority over transactions involving state-chartered charitable organizations, such as the HFPA, which had operated as a nonprofit. (Penske-Boehly announced their intention to turn the organization into a for-profit business.)
Two years later, the AG still has not sanctioned the deal and has given no indication of when approval might be coming. The Attorney General’s office has repeatedly declined to answer any questions about its process or findings. I previously reviewed the tortured history of this deal and concerns here:
All of which is to say, the HFPA never was, as universally reported, dissolved. As approval of the transaction has never materialized, the HFPA board, which last met in June 2023, reconvened last month to address the state of suspended animation.
On the advice of counsel, which noted that irregularities in the process leading to the original vote had nullified the dissolution, and as the transaction had not advanced, the board voted on June 4 to resume its control of the organization. That decision thereby negated the never-fully consummated dissolution of June 2023.
What does this mean for the show scheduled to air on CBS on Jan. 11, 2026? I explain below.