It was not Rolling Stone that Conde Nast was after, but another of Jann Wenner's publications: the tabloid Us Weekly.

That's what Keith Kelly hopes to clarify in today's column, where he names a price tag of $750 million that Si Newhouse would have to cough up to get his hands on the well-performing celeb weekly in what's already a crowded market.

Except news of a potential deal brings more questions than it does answers. Officially, Wenner media says, "There are no talks. Wenner Media and its properties are not for sale." As for Conde Nast, they're word is, "It is a company policy to never comment on potential acquisitions." But what would upscale Conde want with a tabloid that, no matter how much revenue and how glossy, is still viewed as downmarket?

Us Weekly was born in 1977, as a creation of the New York Times. Wenner bought it in 1986 and, after making the magazine a weekly in 2000, sold half of the magazine to Disney in 2001 for $40 million. In 2006, Disney sold its stake back to Jann — for $300 million, or a 650 percent profit.

Just two years later, Wenner believes the magazine has earned another $150 million in valuation. With a circulation of about 1.85 million, Us is thus valued at roughly $405 per reader. Not bad, when you consider some recent deals, like Dennis Publishing's sale of Maxim (2.5 million readers), Stuff (1.3 million), and Blender (650k) to the newly coined Alpha Media Group for an estimated $250 million; combined circulation among those titles was 4.5 million, valuing each reader at just $55.55.

So why would Conde pay a hyper-premium fee for a gossip rag? Because the dirty little secret about Conde's magazines is that, while they're all high fashion and gloss on the outside, average reader incomes are just mid-five figures. Even Vogue, which regularly features $850 shoes, $14,000 dresses, and $200,000 watches, has a median reader income of $65,000. At Us Weekly? $72k. Oh, and it earns some $75 million a year, in profit.