Posted on 11/01/2010 12:02:46 PM PDT by WebFocus
American Media, which also publishes Men's Fitness and Star, seeks Chapter 11 agreement as it negotiates with bondholders.
The owner of supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer is to file for bankruptcy protection in the US.
American Media, the country's biggest owner of celebrity magazines, publishes more than a dozen titles with a combined circulation of 6.8m as well as the National Enquirer.
The privately owned company has been trying to refinance its debt and said today that it will enter into a Chapter 11 agreement to negotiate a debt-for-equity swap with bondholders.
David Pecker, American Media's president, insisted in a statement it would be "business as usual" at the publisher, whose other titles include Men's Fitness and gossip weekly Star, while talks with creditors take place.
American Media is effectively owned by its bondholders after agreeing last year to hand them 95% of its shares as it sought to prevent bankruptcy.
An executive at a rival publishing group which operates in the same market said: "It is a bad time for their celebrity magazines and Star in particular has posted some of its worst ever sales figures recently. I know they have an older and more downmarket demographic which means they suffer more than normal in a tough market."
Many of its titles are popular with "blue collar" US readers who have been hit hard by the recession. The circulation of its flagship title the National Enquirer has fallen from a peak of over 6m to about 1m.
The company was bought by two private equity groups, Thomas H Lee Partners and Evercore Partners, for $850m in 1999 and paid $350m for Weider Publications, a major publisher of health titles including Shape and Men's Fitness, in 2003.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
DAMN! JOHN EDWARDS!!!!!
OMG! Where will my wife and her friends get their news now? With bad news at the Enquirer and Oprah about to retire, the last credible news source will be “The Spew”!
/SARC
Those are friends of Bill Clinton I understand.
good riddance.
Too bad, they did good work with the Silky Pony.
I heard that there was a company from another planet that was looking to come in and buy them up.
Maybe the Weekly World News can take over the content management of the Enquirer and Star.
I used to be the fact checker for the Weekly World News. And while I was on the job, not one fact got through, not even in the ads.
Turned down a job to work for Dan Rather, though. After all, even I have some standards.
Oprah is getting her own channel, Rosie O’Donnell and Quack Phil are already on board and they have a billion-dollar ad commitment from Procter&Gamble.
Lifetime Movies is going to become OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Just please, please save the Weekly World News!
I’m with you Bat-Boy!!
Funny how that guy got to where he is with a surname like Pecker.
I heard that PBS was taking them over/s
This must be hard on him. He shouldn't go soft at a time like this...
The WWN stopped publishing as a standalone tabloid three years ago. It limps on as a web-only and as an occasional insert in "The Star"
Looks like Coons in Delaware.
Try TMZ...is free on cable.
ROFL
David Pecker, American Media’s president...
This must be hard on him. He shouldn’t go soft at a time like this...
Pecker be looking to ExtenZe his credit
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