How Many People Is AMI Firing?
The National Enquirer and Star could theoretically be out of business within weeks, what with publisher American Media facing a creditor takeover or even bankruptcy.
American Media is sweating yet another creditor-imposed deadline, Keith Kelly reports in the Post. CEO David Pecker has until Friday to come up with a deal with bondholders after his company default on $436 million in debt.
"It's only a matter of time before the bondholders take over," one source told Kelly.
This is apparently driving the AMI layoffs we heard about last week. Kelly heard as many as 75 were let go Friday; AMI says only eight or nine. That's quite a range
Kelly reported Country Weekly Publisher Marie Wolpert Men's Fitness' ad director Jeff Kimmel are out.
We heard the following additional people were laid off from AMI titles:
- Star Senior Reporter Cristina Everett
- Star Photo Editor Jessica Athanasiou
- Star Copywriter Catherine Adcock
- David Yama in the Star art department
- Russ Smith in the photo department at Men's Fitness
- Gina Pinna in the photo department at Men's Fitness
- Vivian Torres in production at Men's Fitness
- The online editor at Shape
Elsewhere in the celebrity-industrial complex, over at OK! veteran staffers are supposedly being fired to make way for laid off workers from Time Inc.'s relatively classy People.
