The company that publishes the National Enquirer, Soap Opera Digest, and Men’s Fitness is adding US Weekly to its list of titles.
American Media Inc. (AMI) announced Wednesday that it had reached an agreement to buy the celebrity-centric weekly from Jann Wenner’s Wenner Media.
The tabloid and fitness publisher touted its glossy new addition as “a cultural reference point [that] provides the most timely and current entertainment and lifestyle news through the lens of celebrity to a total audience of more than 50 million young and affluent consumers across its platforms.”
American Media CEO David Pecker touted the acquisition, saying the magazine is “one of the most distinctive and powerful media brands.”
The magazine sells just short of 2 million paid copies per week, according to AMI, and its website draws more than 22 million visitors a month.
The sale transfers control of the leading celebrity magazine from the hands of Wenner, a noted liberal, to AMI, whose Enquirer has been a consistent and mostly positive chronicler of all things Donald Trump.
Involved in the deal were Methuselah Advisors, financial adviser to Wenner Media, and Wenner Media adviser Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. AMI’s legal advise came from Cole Schotz P.C.
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