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BumRushDaShow

(127,279 posts)
Wed Apr 10, 2019, 06:17 PM Apr 2019

National Enquirer expected to be sold imminently as parent company faces pressure

Source: Washington Post



American Media Inc. is actively seeking to sell off the National Enquirer, according to three people familiar with the process who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The decision to sell came after the hedge fund manager whose firm controls AMI became “disgusted” with the Enquirer’s reporting tactics, according to one of these people.

American Media has been under intense pressure due to the Enquirer’s efforts to tilt the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, who is a longtime friend of American Media’s president and CEO, David Pecker. Pecker and his supermarket tabloid have also been embroiled in recent months in an unusually public feud with Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post.

In August, just as AMI and two of its top officers were finalizing a non-prosecution agreement with federal investigators, the company’s board of directors started looking for ways to unload the tabloid business “because they didn’t want to deal with hassles like this anymore,” another person said. The company was also facing financial difficulty as it sought to refinance more than $400 million in debt earlier this year and as the Enquirer’s circulation continued to decline, along with broader newsstand trends. The paper sold an average of 516,000 copies per issue in 2014, but that number fell to 218,000 in December, according to data compiled by the Alliance for Audited Media.

American Media was “very, very leveraged” and repeatedly found itself “on the brink,” Pecker told the Toronto Star in 2016. Pecker managed the company’s financial straits by broadening American Media’s portfolio in recent years, buying magazines such as Us Weekly and In Touch. He has also relied on the support of Anthony Melchiorre, who controls the $4 billion hedge fund Chatham Asset Management, which holds an 80 percent stake in the Enquirer’s parent company.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/national-enquirer-expected-to-be-sold-imminently-as-parent-company-faces-pressure/2019/04/10/07bb2d88-5ba5-11e9-9625-01d48d50ef75_story.html

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National Enquirer expected to be sold imminently as parent company faces pressure (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Apr 2019 OP
So is tRump and company (ie Russians) are getting into publishing? mitch96 Apr 2019 #1
Jared can help! Delmette2.0 Apr 2019 #9
Wonder if a lot of income was sent offshore. nt delisen Apr 2019 #2
Income sent off-shore, or funneled through Art of d'Deal machinations. Of course. erronis Apr 2019 #11
We need a national boycott of the Enquirer nt tikka Apr 2019 #3
Actually any company Pecker owns or sits on a board of. cstanleytech Apr 2019 #6
Funny but true - BumRushDaShow Apr 2019 #7
Better, I think a boycott of the checkout aisles (ie stores) that display them ToxMarz Apr 2019 #14
I wonder if ownership of the blackmail material is included? nt More_Cowbell Apr 2019 #4
Not selling due to it being trash but due to poor circulation...typical. BigmanPigman Apr 2019 #5
All the vulture capitalists think about is BumRushDaShow Apr 2019 #8
LOL. "a non-prosecution agreement with federal investigators" PSPS Apr 2019 #10
I hope the Onion buys it. marble falls Apr 2019 #12
That would be a hoot BumRushDaShow Apr 2019 #13
Gettin' while the gettin's good. Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Apr 2019 #15
Bezos should buy it BlueIdaho Apr 2019 #16
And then find out what is in that "safe" BumRushDaShow Apr 2019 #17
That's what I was thinking, too, DeminPennswoods Apr 2019 #18
Your second should be third jmowreader Apr 2019 #21
I like you're thinking! nt. BlueIdaho Apr 2019 #22
BS... Maxheader Apr 2019 #19
Apparently it didn't BumRushDaShow Apr 2019 #20

mitch96

(13,816 posts)
1. So is tRump and company (ie Russians) are getting into publishing?
Wed Apr 10, 2019, 06:21 PM
Apr 2019

They could launder a lot of money thru that publication....
m

erronis

(14,942 posts)
11. Income sent off-shore, or funneled through Art of d'Deal machinations. Of course.
Wed Apr 10, 2019, 06:55 PM
Apr 2019

Only fools pay taxes.

BumRushDaShow

(127,279 posts)
7. Funny but true -
Wed Apr 10, 2019, 06:26 PM
Apr 2019

I was in the supermarket yesterday and saw a rack with that tabloid rag at the checkout counter. But someone had already stuck some kind of translucent plastic "divider" on top of the copies so they were no longer overtly visible. I know quite a few people, including some on DU, who flip them around if they see them in the store.

ToxMarz

(2,154 posts)
14. Better, I think a boycott of the checkout aisles (ie stores) that display them
Wed Apr 10, 2019, 08:26 PM
Apr 2019

let them waste their money putting them out, no one buys them (or goes searching for them). They get their message out sitting on the stands.

BigmanPigman

(51,430 posts)
5. Not selling due to it being trash but due to poor circulation...typical.
Wed Apr 10, 2019, 06:24 PM
Apr 2019

This was not based on morals and integrity but the almighty dollar.

BumRushDaShow

(127,279 posts)
8. All the vulture capitalists think about is
Wed Apr 10, 2019, 06:28 PM
Apr 2019

the bottom line.

As the GOP always likes to spout - "Let the 'free market' decide".

PSPS

(13,512 posts)
10. LOL. "a non-prosecution agreement with federal investigators"
Wed Apr 10, 2019, 06:30 PM
Apr 2019
In August, just as AMI and two of its top officers were finalizing a non-prosecution agreement with federal investigators, the company’s board of directors started looking for ways to unload the tabloid business “because they didn’t want to deal with hassles like this anymore,”

BlueIdaho

(13,582 posts)
16. Bezos should buy it
Wed Apr 10, 2019, 10:40 PM
Apr 2019

First - hand over all the dirty little secrets to the M$M and Nancy Pelosi. Second - close it and destroy all assets.

jmowreader

(50,447 posts)
21. Your second should be third
Thu Apr 11, 2019, 01:23 PM
Apr 2019

Second should be a year-long expose of the GOP. They could start by serializing the Mueller Report.

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