Another major magazine is on the block, and once again potential buyers include the parent company of the National Enquirer.
Just a few months ago, American Media chief executive David Pecker told the New Yorker that he was mulling a bid for Time Inc., whose portfolio includes Fortune, People, Sports Illustrated and, of course, Time.
Time Inc. said in April that it had decided against a sale, after months of prospecting, but the announcement has failed to end speculation that the publisher could be had for the right price. Yahoo reported in July that Time Inc. is quietly still for sale.
What's clear is that American Media aspires to own more publications — preferably ones with big names and strong reputations that could lend some legitimacy to Pecker's pro-Trump agenda. Pecker presumably would not replicate the Enquirer's sensationalism at Time or Rolling Stone but, as I wrote in June, changes need not be glaring to be problematic.
In the New Yorker piece, Wenner's son, Gus, who negotiated the sales of Us Weekly and Men's Journal, said that Pecker freely admitted to quashing articles for the president.
“I thought I would have to pull it out of him smoothly,” Gus Wenner told the New Yorker. “But he offered it up pretty readily, and I was all ears. He was painting Donald as extremely loyal to him, and he had no issue being loyal in return. He told me very bluntly that he had killed all sorts of stories for Trump.”
In response, Pecker denied telling Gus Wenner that he had killed stories for Trump, though he didn't actually deny killing stories. In fact, he talked about killing a story for someone else, Tiger Woods, in exchange for Woods's appearance on the cover of another American Media magazine.
This is the kind of unseen, transactional journalism that American Media could bring to more magazines, if it succeeds in making further acquisitions. As the Enquirer continues to boost Trump and attack his detractors, the tabloid's parent company bears watching.
