Nikki Finke has left Deadline.com.

Finke, who is the founder of Deadline.com, and up until this evening, its editor in chief, tweeted earlier tonight, Nov. 5, 2013, "Jay Penske has just told me I am free to leave. He tried to buy my silence. No sale."

Penske bought Deadline in 2009.

Finke also tweeted, "Great day! I loved starting Deadline Hollywood and I loved what we built. I now can leave and start a new career at NikkiFinke.com." It was followed by this tweet: "I’ll announce shortly where I’m going to set up NikkiFInke.com and what will be the new showbiz news feed. Exciting changes!"

If one currently puts "NikkiFinke.com" into one’s web browser, it defaults to Deadline.com.

On the Deadline.com site itself, Nellie Andreeva, who covers TV for Deadline, and Mike Fleming Jr., who covers movies, co-wrote a piece that carries the headline "Deadline.com and Nikki Finke Parting Ways." It says, in part, "This is an emotional and painful parting of the ways for us. When we joined Deadline four years ago from The Hollywood Reporter and Variety (respectively), we felt that we were doing something disruptive and game-changing. That spirit is what brought us together and will keep us together, and the current team will remain on that path. Businesses evolve and change, and we’ve learned that no one is indispensable."

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times Company Town blog wrote of Finke’s departure, "Finke is leaving after repeated clashes with Jay Penske, who purchased the site in 2009 and also owns Variety. ‘I’m so happy,’ Finke said in a brief interview."

Flint notes that this week Finke and Penske "met with a mediator in an effort to reach an accord. While Finke said the talks didn’t appear to go far, nonetheless Penske decided to release her from her contract, which ran through 2016."

To read some of the steps that lead to Finke’s departure, please click here.