Posted on 02/07/2023 9:21:08 AM PST by Red Badger
The National Enquirer, the gossip tabloid that became engulfed in a 2018 "catch and kill" scandal for burying news about the Trump campaign, is being sold by its owners to a digital publishing joint venture.
Why it matters: The sale marks the second time the publication has undergone ownership changes since its former publisher admitted to paying $150,000 in hush money to a Playboy model in an effort to bury a story about Trump's alleged affair with her.
Catch up quick: Following the "catch and kill" scandal, the Enquirer's former parent company American Media LLC, merged with Accelerate360 — a media distribution company — to create a new holding company called A360 Media.
David Pecker, the Enquirer's former publisher, in 2020 stepped down as CEO of American Media as part of the deal, and moved into an advisory role.
American Media LLC said it planned to sell the paper in 2019 when it was still its technical owner, but that deal fell through.
Details: The Enquirer's current owners say they've struck an agreement with a joint venture called VVIP Ventures to acquire both the U.S. and U.K. editions of the National Enquirer, the National Examiner and the Globe in an all-cash transaction for an undisclosed amount.
VVIP Ventures is a joint venture between Vinco Ventures Inc., a publicly traded digital media and tech company, and ICON Publishing, a limited liability company founded by Ted Farnsworth, a film producer and entrepreneur who was formerly chairman of the embattled movie subscription service MoviePass. Farnsworth was criminally charged with securities fraud last year.
The big picture: The Enquirer has been through a number of scandals in recent years.
The company was eventually fined $187,500 by the Federal Election Commission for Trump hush money payments.
It was accused of extortion and blackmail by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2019 for threatening to publish nude photos of Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez.
If I had the money, I would consider buying it.
National Enquirer has broken some big stories about Al Gore and John Edwards, for example.
Its outside the fringe of elitist, acceptable mainstream media and their state-run propaganda, so it has a lot of leeway to be outrageous - and truthful.
the question is distribution - the print format is mostly dead.
scandal ridden media calls Natl Enquirer scndal-ridden. Beautiful.
It has gone from Left Wing slant to Right Wing slant then back again Left so who knows what the ‘new’ owners will be.
The supermarket check-out racks are still active for the Tabs..................
Someone appears to be unclear on the concept. Isn't that their stock-in-trade? You call it a scandal, they call it great marketing!
Still more truth in it than the New York Times.
Dang it. First Weekly World News and now the Enquirer and Globe. What am I supposed to look at when I’m in line at the grocery store?
People
US
Good Housekeeping
Farmer’s Almanac
And the Special Editions of Time/Life Queen Elizabeth II.....................
Batboy does not approve!
He’s on hiatus................
Those folks at the Post are genius!..................
World class wordsmiths!😎
JFK, Jr. crackup, in a nutshell:
Hillary Clinton > Austin M. Beutner and Roger C. Altman [formerly of the Clinton Administration] at Evercore Partners > David Pecker
Pecker was at Hachette Filipacchi (a publishing media empire) and the key to funding JFK, Jr.’s *George* magazine. Evercore somehow influenced Pecker to abandon his well-paid realm at Hachette Filipacchi, and instead, take on (with less pay) American Media (included the National Enquirer).
Funding for *George,* dried up, crushing JFK, Jr.’s ambition to show that he was capable of operating on his own (be something of a self-made man), as he sought to become a U.S. Senator from New York State.
Hillary Clinton, who was not even a resident of New York, chose to run for that Senate office.
Goodbye: funding for *George.*
Not only was JFK, Jr. unhappy, but also U.S. Senator Patrick Moynihan.
I am guessing that Trump knew those and more details, leading up to the last flight of JFK, Jr.
Indeed big money is the only thing that keeps them from being sold.
Yeah…those aren’t quite as sensationally fun, but I guess they’ll have to do. LOL
I also saw a special Time-Life one on Audrey Hepburn at the checkout last week. And get to read Texas Monthly covers at the checkout too.
The slobs at Axios badmouthing the National Enquirer. ROTFLMAO!
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