 Ron Burkle |
Ron Burkle, a Democratic donor whose activities have included hosting fundraisers for Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as helping to fund the startup of Al Gore’s Current TV, is in the midst of talks to buy the National Enquirer from Amercan Media, Inc., according to a report in the New York Times.
The Times piece cited sources that said while American Media and Burkle are deep in their negotiations, it is still possible the deal could fall apart. (Update: A Thursday afternoon New York Post report says that Burkle's reps deny he is negotiating for the paper.)
The sale, if it does happen, would likely not be welcomed by president Trump, a friend of AMI CEO David Pecker and a big fan of the supermarket staple. Trump Tweeted in 2016 that “you can’t knock National Enquirer” and a January 2019 Tweet said that the Enquirer’s reporting was “far more accurate” than that of the Washington Post.
The principal owner of American Media, Chatham Asset Management, had encouraged Pecker to seek a buyer for the paper after it became the object of Federal investigators. The investigation centered on the “catch and kill” operation surrounding a story from former Playboy model Karen McDougal, in which she claimed to have had a sexual affair with Trump. After purchasing the story for $150,000, the Enquirer did not publish it.
Burkle, who began building his fortune by buying and then flipping undervalued grocery stores, founded private equity firm Yucipa Companies, which invests in retail, manufacturing and distribution companies, in 1986. He is also part owner of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
Trump Media & Technology Group today reported a $58.2M net loss on $4.1M in 2023 revenues, a disclosure that drove its stock price down 22.6 percent to $47.96.
Barry Pollack, an attorney at Wall Street’s Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler, has registered Julian Assange as a client with the Justice Dept. “out of an abundance of caution.”
Paramount Global to slash 800 jobs in what chief executive Bob Bakish calls part of an effort to “return the company to earnings growth"... Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman is exiting at the end of the month due to disagreements with chief executive Gus Wenner over the direction the magazine is taking... The New York Times broke the $1 billion barrier in annual revenue from digital subscriptions in 2023... Press Forward is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms.
The majority of news articles are read within the first three days of publication, according to a recent report.
The Los Angeles Times gives pink slips to 115 people or 20 percent of its newsroom staff... TIME is also laying off about 30 employees, which is approximately 15 percent of its editorial staff... The Baltimore Banner, which was launched by Stewart Bainum in 2022 after he failed to buy the Baltimore Sun, added 500 subscribers per day in the three days following Sinclair Broadcast Group's deal to purchase the Sun.
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