Golden Globes sold off following several years of controversy

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA)- the group of journalists who created the Golden Globe Awards, are winding down as the show has been officially purchased by private investors.

A few years of controversy including allegations of corruption, racism and amateurism at the HFPA, culminated in an industry-wide boycott last year of both the award show and the HFPA. This boycott was accompanied by calls for a wholesale reform of the awards.

US billionaire Todd Boehly, one of the private investors part of the purchase remarked that, “Today marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the Golden Globes.” His firm, Eldridge partnered with Penske Media Corporation to drive the deal through.

A joint statement detailed how the takeover "will result in the wind-down of the HFPA and its membership."

Although no timeline for the dissolution has been determined, each member of the HFPA will be offered salaried positions under the new running of the Globes.

Once the Association has been officially wound down, its resources will be used to create a separate non-profit which will focus on charity work related to the entertainment industry.

This is said to include around $44 million of the $48 million the HFPA will receive from the Globes sale.

The award show was first established by a group of Los Angeles-based foreign correspondents who covered the entertainment industry in the 1940s.

The organisers fast-established themselves in Hollywood and by the 1990s, held immense power in the industry due to lucrative television deals that came with broadcasting the ceremony.

However, things began to crumble in 2021 after a Los Angeles Times exposé unearthed the lack of diversity in the HFPA- namely how there were no black members. The following year, the show’s broadcaster NBC took the ceremony off-air.

Since returning to television screens this January, ratings of the award show plummeted to an all-time low of 6.3 millions viewers, due to the absence of several prominent winners.

No television deal exists yet for 2024’s Globes on January 7th.