A lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Central District of California accuses Jay Penske and several co-defendants of executing a deliberate plan to acquire the Golden Globes and dismantle the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) in order to consolidate control over Hollywood’s awards market. The HFPA, the group behind the prestigious Golden Globe Awards, is seeking $150 million in damages and the reversal of Penske’s 2023 acquisition of the event.
The 113-page complaint names Penske, his company Penske Media Corporation (PMC), the nonprofit Golden Globes Foundation, and its CEO Gregory Goeckner as defendants. It alleges a multiyear scheme involving anti-competitive conduct, fraud, and breaches of fiduciary duties intended to eliminate competition and monopolize the awards industry.
Penske’s media empire owns the Golden Globes and several other major award shows, along with a majority stake in Hollywood trade publications that sell “For Your Consideration” (FYC) advertising to studios. PMC also owns Gold Derby Media, known for awards predictions, and Luminate, a data firm that tracks statistics relevant to awards eligibility.
The suit follows a 2025 vote by 55 former HFPA members to reconstitute the organization and nullify a critical provision of the original deal that facilitated Penske’s takeover with assistance from Eldridge Industries CEO Todd Boehly. Eldridge played a central role in the acquisition, which critics contend was marked by undisclosed conflicts of interest and procedural irregularities.
According to the complaint, Boehly, who assumed the HFPA’s interim CEO role in 2023, was simultaneously maneuvering to purchase the organization through Eldridge, creating an “irreconcilable conflict of interest.” The HFPA claims that members believed they were selling their stake solely to Boehly, only to discover after the transaction that Penske had secured control of the awards.
The lawsuit also maintains that two other prospective buyers, Pacific Coast Entertainment and Appleby Ventures, faced intentional obstruction—either through false information or unattainable deadlines—curtailing competition. Moreover, the suit asserts that after the deal closed, terms were modified without board approval to authorize a $27.5 million payment to Eldridge, representing profits from the 2023 Golden Globes.
This legal action emerges in the wake of a prolonged crisis for the HFPA dating back to early 2021, when the group faced widespread criticism for lack of diversity following a Los Angeles Times exposé. The controversy triggered public protests and a boycott by Hollywood publicists, leading to NBC’s cancellation of its Golden Globes broadcast contract and the ceremony’s hiatus for a year.
The HFPA alleges that Penske used his trade publications to amplify this negative coverage, further undermining the organization to facilitate the acquisition.
In a statement responding to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the Golden Globes and Penske called the claims “unequivocally false” and emphasized that the transaction closed over three years ago with all necessary approvals. The statement characterized the lawsuit as an attempt by former HFPA members to gain access to Golden Globes tickets, describing it as a “distraction” from charitable efforts led by the Golden Globes Foundation.
Requests for comment from Eldridge Industries and Boehly were not returned. The HFPA is represented by Kasowitz Benson Torres, a New York-based law firm known for high-profile litigation. The lead attorney, Daniel Saunders, has a background prosecuting Hollywood figures and was previously part of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
The lawsuit promises to bring further scrutiny to the complex dynamics behind the Golden Globes’ ownership and the evolving landscape of power in Hollywood’s awards ecosystem.