AMI awaiting PPP loan worth $5-6M amid coronavirus pandemic

Financially struggling American Media still has its hand out, waiting for a loan valued at between $5 million and $6 million under the federal Payroll Protection Program run by the Small Business Administration, The Post has learned.

An AMI spokesman declined to comment this week on whether the owner of the National Enquirer, Us Weekly and other celebrity titles actually received the money yet.

“American Media made the decision to apply for PPP support in an effort to secure hundreds of jobs that might have been lost as we and other publishers continue to navigate the current economic climate created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” a spokesman told the Daily Beast, which weeks ago broke the story about the loan application.

The potential loan from the feds raised eyebrows in many circles, with insiders noting the company’s cash-flow problems were hampering operations before the coronavirus hit and shuttered newsstands across the country.

On the political front, AMI got mixed in the 2016 hush-money payments scandal surrounding two women who had accused President Trump of having sex with them years before he ran for president.

AMI boss David Pecker and its majority owner Chatham Asset Management, headed by Anthony Melchiorre, have been trying to complete the sale of the troubled supermarket tabloid to Jimmy Cohen, the chief executive of mag wholesale distributor Hudson News. The deal was announced over a year ago.

The company returns to the spotlight on Sunday at 10 p.m. with CNN’s broadcast of the heavily promoted documentary: “Scandalous. The Untold Story of the National Enquirer.” The documentary includes commentary by Ken Auletta, Carl Bernstein, Ronan Farrow and Post Media Ink columnist Keith J. Kelly.

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Newzandar News

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