Petersen Publishing Empire on the Block

05/14/96

Robert E. Petersen, the consumate hot roddder who founded the Petersen Publishing empire in 1949 via hawking mimeographed copies of a magazine called HOT ROD confirmed that he has hired the investment firm of Oldman-Sachs to find a buyer for his conglomerate that puts out 24 monthlies and 47 annual publications most of which are concerebed with cars and high performance. "Pete" as he is known to one and all is listed by the L.A.TIMES as one of Southern Californias top fifty richest people with a worth of around $400 million. Besides HOT ROD, MOTOR TREND, CAR CRAFT, ROD & CUSTOM and many other car buff titles few people realize that his biggest success circulation-wise is TEEN magazine with a readership of 5 million per month. Pete, and his ex-model wife, Margie are a familiar couple at major automotive happenings and it was Pete who harched the idea of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Beverly Hills, Ca which is probably one of the finest car museums in the U.S. Mr. P. put up 15 mil of his own money to kick off the edifice. Petersen is nearing 70 years and says he does not want an outright buy but wants to stay involved and needs assurances that there will be no changes personnel-wise...or philosophy-wise.

Bill Maloney -- The Auto Channel