There’s this rumor going around that OK! magazine owner Richard Desmond is hiring Bonnie Fuller, she being the former American Media editorial director and Star leader, to run his American exclamation point tabloid.
Fuller, who just left a $2 million-plus payday with David Pecker, is starting her own company, Bonnie Fuller Media, which by all accounts is some sort of digital (and maybe some TV) venture with backing from former Viacom exec Russ Pillar.
The rumor says there are “protracted talks” between Fuller in Desmond, who is said to be looking for a high-profile EIC to replace Sarah Ivens, who’s been running the tabloid since it launched on American shores. The U.S. OK!, which Desmond reportedly sunk $100 million into (though, because he pays in British pounds, he gets everything half off), has seen circulation increase, but not enough to really compete with more established players like In Touch or Us Weekly. Which might explain why we’re also told Desmond made overtures to Us editor Janice Min, who declined.
So is Fuller taking over at OK!? No, say well-placed informants. But it’s true Desmond did reach out to her.
Which leaves only one real question: CONTINUED »
You’ll have to wait ANOTHER FULL QUARTER!!! to learn whether Bonnie Fuller, having left AMI as editorial director, earned the $2 million severance package she was gonna get if she left the company in March, since she stayed until May. In the meantime, know this: Fuller was on track to earn $2.4 million in 2008, up from $2.1 million in 2007 — both more than David Pecker’s paycheck of $1.6 million in ‘08. [WWD]
American Media chief David Pecker on former deputy Bonnie Fuller: “I think you take away anything to do from her salary base just for what she has accomplished…when you take a look what Bonnie has done with the book over the years I can’t think of anyone I know who’s more capable and worth more dollars than her to create shareholder value for that magazine. [… The magazine is ] more successful today than when Bonnie has run it over the last four years…It runs on its own. You just need the right captain or admiral to steer it.” [FBNY]
Was Bonnie Fuller’s exit from American Media a departure planned well ahead of its announcement, or did it come about as suddenly as her deciding her time was up? Never mind that she shot down Keith Kelly’s initial questions about her leaving weeks before the announcement came, but perhaps the dust jacket for real estate impresario Barbara Corcoran’s book, Nextville, released in April, tells all.
Since the jacket had to be mocked up well before the book went to press, it’s curious that Bonnie Fuller, who was running AMI and Star up until last week, is identified only by her own authordom: the scribe behind The Joys of Much Too Much, and not any of her highfalutin titles.
Then again, David Caplan is identified as merely an “entertainment journalist,” even though at any point in the last 12 months, he could’ve been blurbed as either Star’s New York bureau chief, VH1 blogger, and, now, a People titan. So maybe they just went the safer route.
Larger version below. CONTINUED »
We love this side of Bonnie Fuller, the lady who just stepped down as editorial director of AMI to take a gig as Star’s editor-at-large while she works on some secret “exciting new venture” (something with TV! and LOS ANGELES!, we’re hearing).
We’ve seen her doing these faux celebrity newscast spots with Spinner.com before, and it’s a good image for her to broadcast: light-hearted, breezy, able to laugh.
One question though: If Julia Allison is Star’s much-hyped and overpaid “editor-at-large” (the glorified title for “paid to appear on TV”), is Bonnie’s new stand-in gig going to give her the boot?
Clip below. CONTINUED »
Bonnie Fuller, who yesterday announced she was leaving her editorial director post at AMI to work on new things, knew she was going to get picked up by the industry press, who have never taken kindly to her. Keith Kelly reminds us that “In the end, few are sorry to see her leave AMI.” [NYP] And the Post also took the time to mock up this faux tabloid cover, with coverlines, “Terrible Tyrant Tossed!,” “Pecker Wins Day!,” and “Former Staffers Jubilant!” Eh, it’s kind of weak, but they did manage to squeeze four exclamation points on the thing, and even Bonnie would respect that.
By voluntarily stepping down from American Media’s editorial director spot, Bonnie Fuller isn’t just saying goodbye to a position of power, but also:
• $1.5 million in annual salary
• $500,000 a year, minimum, in bonus / a “target bonus” of $1 million
• First-class airfare and Four Seasons-level travel accommodations
• $80,000 in car services
• $2,000 for business-related hair and make up
A bit of breaking news: Bonnie Fuller, blogger and comedian, is finally stepping down as editorial director of American Media Inc., a position she’s held since July 2003, silencing the months/years-long rumors that she would do so. The decision is effective tomorrow. She’ll stay on as editor-at-large for Star and will, says the release, serve as a consultant to CEO David Pecker.
This will give Bonnie more time to criticize Lynne Spears.
Update: Naturally, the speculation that Bonnie has been fired is bubbling up. We’re assured by one multiple insiders that she’s stepping down voluntarily. Though perhaps unfortunately for Fuller, both scenarios are plausible.
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American Media chief David Pecker is having his $1.5 million salary renewed, despite his leadership that has driven the company’s debt load into dangerous territory. His country club membership will continue to be paid for by the company. [WWD]
• The $1.08 billion in debt American Media is carrying is bad debt, says analyst troupe Moody’s, which just downgraded the company’s rating. This puts more pressure on David Pecker to work out a deal with Ron Burkle, who’s shown interest in snapping up the company but hasn’t exactly moved forward with the deal; something about involving more cash in the deal thanks to fearful banks. [Keith Kelly]
American Media Inc. is publicizing their financial reports? Back the F up.
The company behind respected publications like pay-for-tips Star, National Enquirer, and Flex, has a record of doing everything in their power to delay reporting its quarterly numbers to the SEC, sometimes paying six- to seven-figure fees for the privilege. And when they did report the figures – always bad, always big – they’d do it just before a three-day holiday weekend, just like the Bush administration or any statement-issuing publicist worth her retainer.
Now, things are looking up, which explains why AMI – a subsidiary of EMP Group LLC, a holding company controlled by private equity firms Evercore Partners and Thomas H. Lee – is sending out a press release with the good news. CONTINUED »
Paying sources for stories? So not kosher at newspapers of record, but it’s standard practice in the tabloid biz, no matter how many denials editors deliver.
But a tabloid other than OK! owning up to it? Psshaw. Until, that is, Star’s Candace Trunzo owned up to it.
“We do pay for information,” she says. “I make no qualms about it. I think all the celebrity magazines do it.” They’ve even started printing the 800 number for a tip line, like TMZ.com does, with promises of $100 or more for information. (To the half dozen tabloid veterans who’ve spoken to us on the issue, it’s generally accepted knowledge that TMZ pays for information. TMZ denies the charge. Like People, they’re a Time Warner company, and paying sources would violate policy..)
It’s all part of Candace’s plan to re-supermarket-ize Star — an about-face to its mission not so long ago to glossy it up. And given Trunzo’s tightknit relationship with AMI cousin National Enquirer, and its editor David Perel, the process is probably further along than you think.
Worth noting is that when Bonnie Fuller took over at the tabloid after reigning over Us Weekly, she insisted the magazine would differentiate itself from the other newsstand garbage, even though it was widely suspected scoops were still paid for under her watch.
So what’s the big deal about paying for information? CONTINUED »
Star’s second favorite hobby – if calling Britney Spears a psycho is No. 1 – continues this month: raiding other tabloids for star reporters.
In this edition, we’re hearing Candace Trunzo’s camp just scored Kate Major, the In Touch trooper who’s so enveloped in Lindsay Lohan’s world that even OK! magazine couldn’t resist a bite.
By one source’s calculations, Kate is the sixth Bauer journo in seven months to decamp for the better pay scale at AMI, following West Coast reporter Tim Plant, New York’s Aaron Rasmussen, Casey Brennan, and Cristina Everett, and In Touch’s West Coast chief Martin Gould, who returned to Star as the No. 2 in October.
One source claims Kate told her Bauer bosses (including West Coast’s David Thompson) on Friday of her decision to transplant to the East Coast, and turned down incentives to stay.
So if we’ve worked out the math correctly, it appears AMI chief David Pecker has the money to pay upper salaries for top reporters, editorial directors who do little to nothing, and late fees for missing SEC filing deadlines. It’s like Michael Jackson is offering them financial advice.
The much-talked about – as in, we’ve been talking about them much – rumors of AMI editorial director Bonnie Fuller meeting with TV folks and taking meetings in LA are once again causing a stir among the top tabloid set.
We’re told that, among other outlets, she’s met with the E! channel. Except rather than focus on her own projects – such as a reality show about her family or something that her NYU film student son would spearhead (?) – the latest gossip suggests she’s simply trying to raise her profile among David Pecker’s set before Ron Burkle’s takeover of the company.
She’s been working with a “TV trainer” to help avoid her oft-mocked awkward presence on screen. “Apparently she’s much better on camera now as a result,” says a source.
Even more evidence of a new Bonnie? She’s been meeting with Star’s reporters (”something she hadn’t done for a long while until recently”) and even calling her own contacts to report stories, which we’ve already seen her do once.
… just how coincidental it is that the National Enqurier – owned by American Media Inc., which Clinton family friend Ron Burkle is looking to buy – pieces together a “secret love child” story about John Edwards just in time for the Iowa primary.
“High-level merger talks are underway between American Media and Ron Burkle’s Source Interlink Companies,” reports the NYP. “The merger would combine American Media’s titles, including the National Enquirer, with Source Interlink’s, which range from Motor Trend to Soap Opera Digest.”
While negotiations are still in the early stages, both parties are confident the deal would do nothing to tarnish the sterling reputation of the titles in question, which have long been unofficially merged at the front of the supermarket checkout aisle, under the multi-purpose category of “Reading For Dummies.”
Remember One Park Avenue, the American Media reality series that never got off the ground? (Trust, it was for the best.) The above promo takes us back, with then Star leader Bonnie Fuller telling us about “what it takes”; David Caplan, before he decamped for 24Sizzler.com, on how the tabloid biz is like high school; and a Star staffer who insists she “looks forward to coming to work.”
Oh, and there’s former Men’s Fitness and current Genre chief gay Neal Boulton talking about how much he loves his job — because he’s “around hot sexy women all the time, partying my ass off.”
Excuse us for doing this, but: ROFL.
[Note: The show’s lawyers asked us to take down the video. They were very nice, so we agreed and will cherish memories of what counts as one of Boulton’s straightest moments.]
Whoops-a-doozie! Pseudo-homophobic Star
magazine missed its 1.5 million rate base for the first half the year — and has Ron Burkle target American Media Inc. wondering whether they should drop it to 1.2 million. Meanwhile, the tab that usually sells upwards of 800k on the newsstand has only been averaging about 600k under new EIC Candace Trunzo. Which begs the question: Can we get Bonnie back to do another one of those blog-a-zine issues? Or maybe they should just follow this one’s model and go with the gay-baiting angle.
Remember last week when TMZ* blew the lid off of Andy Roddick’s (superimposed) tree-trunk arms? Well apparently, AMI prez David Pecker was less than thrilled about all the negative publicity. And so, he did what any of us would do: publicly insinuated Bonnie Fuller was to blame, and tattled about her super long lunches crappy interview skills and her inability to copy-edit. Like, at all.
Sources told Page Six that AMI chief David Pecker “went crazy” on editorial director Bonnie Fuller Friday morning. The rant came after Pecker read Keith J. Kelly’s Media Ink column in The Post, in which the magazine admitted its cover subject’s body had been altered. The issue was put together under the watch of Boulton, who has since been replaced by new editor-in-chief Roy Johnson.
“Pecker is livid. He really thinks this is something Bonnie should have caught,” said one source. “He’s crazy about wanting everything in his magazines to be accurate and basically told her she was responsible.”
Normally, we’d make a joke here about AMI’s “crazy” obsession with accuracy, but instead we’ll content ourselves by smugly pointing out that Page Six could use a copy-editor of their own.
“I am very interested in celebrities and always have been. I have the same burning questions as everyone else, about Tom and Nicole’s relationship and why did Brad and Jen break up. It’s impossible to get jaded with celebrities.”
That’s Bonnie Fuller, opening up to Media Life about her unique perspective on celebrity culture. And while we’re momentarily stunned by her outdated references (Brad and Jen break up? Tom and Nicole??) we’re simultaneously gearing up for what promises to be an insightful, revealing interview.
Inevitably, we’re wrong.
Bonnie Fuller is on full PR mode, offering annoying pat responses to inquiries about her future (”My next step is continuing to grow all the great magazines and brands here at American Media”) and refusing even to answer the most banal questions, such as “what are you worst at?”
[Note to Bonnie: You don’t have to be heart-wrenchingly honest here. No need for a candid response involving the phrases “soulless bitch” or “sleazy muckraker.” Just say something stupid like “I’m a perfectionist” or “It’s so hard for me to fit exercise into my busy schedule of ruining innocent people’s lives.”]
Truthfully, we can’t quite figure out why Bonnie’s suddenly rendered incapable of normal speech (possibly she’s still traumatized by the Brad/Jen breakup?) but we’ve nevertheless reprinted the most telling excerpts below for your viewing “pleasure.”
Editorial Director
