National Enquirer’s $100M sale delay explained

Eight months after David Pecker’s American Media Inc. revealed that it planned to sell the National Enquirer to James Cohen for $100 million, the deal still has not closed.

Cohen, the kingpin at the Hudson News magazine wholesale operation, told Media Ink recently, “There’s no change in the price or the terms.”

So why the delay?

Cohen insisted that the convoluted legal controversies surrounding the supermarket tabloid are not the reason for the delay, saying the holdup was the result of hashing out the details of who will handle what after a sale.

The “service contracts” call for AMI to continue to handle editorial “while I handle distribution,” Cohen said.

AMI, which has been under scrutiny for its role in hush-money payments made to Playboy model Karen McDougal — who claimed an affair with Donald Trump — continues to face legal troubles. CNN reported late last month that the New York AG spoke with AMI officials in late October as part of its ongoing probe of Trump and the Trump Organization and possible campaign finance violations.

At the same time, speculation has been growing that Anthony Melchiorre’s hedge fund, Chatham Asset Management, which owns 80 percent of AMI, will eventually buy the Hudson News magazine wholesale operation from Cohen to add to its holdings.

Chatham bought the largest magazine wholesale operation in the US from Canadian Jim Pattison in late 2018 and renamed it American News Co. It has been adding smaller wholesale operations to its business over the past year.

Said Cohen of any potential deal regarding a Chatham-American News buy of Hudson News, “That would be nice.”

One person who definitely is NOT coming with the Enquirer after a sale is Dylan Howard, the controversial former editor-in-chief who was accused by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos of trying to blackmail him.

Howard was booted upstairs to work on books, podcasts and cable shows, and replaced as editor-in-chief of the Enquirer and editorial director of the other tabloids in March by Dan Dolan, a 70-year-old veteran journalist, who has worked at the New York Post, Star Magazine, the Globe and the Enquirer.

AMI and Chatham declined to comment.