James Finkelstein

James "Jimmy" Finkelstein, the owner of The Hill newspaper, is not a widely known media executive, but he is one of the era's most consequential. Finkelstein resides at the nexus of President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and John Solomon, the now-former executive at The Hill and current Fox News contributor who pushed conspiracy theories about Ukraine into the public conversation. Finkelstein was Solomon's direct supervisor at The Hill and created the conditions which permitted Solomon to publish his conspiratorial stories without the traditional oversight implemented at news outlets. Finkelstein has been friends with Trump for decades. Trump himself has also privately acknowledged his relationship with Finkelstein. Finkelstein's wife, Pamela Gross, who worked at CNN but left in 2017, is close with Melania Trump. Finkelstein and Gross are also both close with Rudy Giuliani. The Hill was co-founded by Finkelstein’s father over 25 years ago. Finkelstein had once held an extensive media portfolio as the co-founder of the Prometheus Media Group, which purchased The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Adweek for $70 million in 2009. In 2013, Finkelstein’s co-investors in Prometheus bought him out of the company, reportedly in response to ballooning costs and little growth under his leadership. Finkelstein also inherited the Manhattan-based media conglomerate News Communications from his late father, Jerry Finkelstein, which included a number of New York publications, as well as The Hill. Between 2001 and 2007, Finkelstein sold every property in News Communications except for the Hill to various New York insiders, including former Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.). Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross once owned a substantial stake in News Communications, long before Ross entered the Trump administration. Ross expected that the company would help his wife at the time, Betsy McCaughey Ross, then New York’s lieutenant governor, gear up for a failed gubernatorial bid. In 2002, media mogul Conrad Black bought a controlling interest in The Hill and several local Hamptons publications for $20 million, only for Finkelstein eventually to take back control later. The Hill has a number of minority investors. John Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner of Gristedes Foods and a former Republican candidate for New York mayor, has a financial stake in The Hill. Joshua Harris — a billionaire private equity investor who co-founded Apollo Global Management and is the principal owner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers — was also a minority investor in The Hill