American Media, Inc., Completes Acquisition Of Weider Publications, Inc.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 23, 2003

American Media, Inc. and Evercore Partners announced today that they have completed the acquisition of Weider Publications, Inc. and its related properties for $350 million.

The transaction has been structured to allow for a significant step-up in the assets for tax purposes. AMI expects this structure to provide significant incremental cash flow benefits on an after-tax basis. The transaction will be accretive to AMI's EBITDA immediately.

"With the acquisition of Weider," Mr. Pecker commented, "AMI will dramatically expand our consumer magazine division and transform itself into a major media company with a better balanced portfolio of revenues between circulation and advertising. Today, from celebrity journalism to country music, we have the #1 market share in all of our targeted publication categories, and the Weider acquisition gives us this same preeminence in the health & fitness industries."

Weider Publications is comprised of seven magazines, each a leader in their respective categories of the health & fitness market, and represents more than 60 years of brand equity. These properties include:

-- Muscle & Fitness, Flex, Muscle & Fitness Hers and Men's Fitness - these titles make up the Weider Enthusiast Group and are the dominant magazines for serious fitness enthusiasts, both male & female. Total readership is more than 15 million.

-- Shape, Fit Pregnancy and Natural Health - these titles make up the Weider Active Lifestyle Group and are leading titles in the women's active lifestyle, pre & post natal fitness and self-care categories. These titles have a readership in excess of 8 million, with Shape the market leader in both circulation and advertising.

The company has multiple international editions of its titles and multi-media properties that complement them. It also has a significant presence in event marketing through its sponsorship of the Mr. and Ms. Olympia contests and other competitions sanctioned by the International Federation of Body Builders, as well as other non-publishing related fitness enterprises.

Commenting on the transaction, Evercore Partners President Austin Beutner said, "When we purchased American Media in 1999, our goal was to make sure that every one of our publications was the market leader. Evercore Partners is a company committed to creating shareholder value, and investments like Weider are an important part of our long-term growth strategy for AMI."

J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Bear, Stearns & Co. acted as financial advisors to AMI and Evercore and are providing financing in connection with the transaction. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett provided legal counsel to AMI and Evercore. Rothschild Inc. acted as exclusive financial advisor and Latham & Watkins provided legal counsel to Weider.

American Media, Inc. is one of the largest media companies in the U.S. The company publishes six of the 14 best selling weekly magazines, including the #2 and #4 titles, the National Enquirer and Star. The company also publishes the best selling country music magazines, Country Weekly and Country Music, a Latino entertainment magazine, Mira!, a mass market automotive magazine, AMI's Auto World, more than 200 Mini-Mags and Digests, and recently launched its own book division. Besides print properties, American Media owns Distribution Services, Inc., the country's #1 in-store magazine merchandising company.

Evercore Partners, based in New York and Los Angeles, makes private equity investments through its Evercore Capital Partners affiliate and venture investments through its Evercore Ventures affiliate. Evercore also provides strategic, financial and restructuring advisory services. Evercore Capital Partners' investments include: American Media, Vertis, Resources Connection, Energy Partners, Continental Energy Services and Telenet. Ventures investments include Boingo, Panasas, USBX and Atheros. Recent advisory work includes advising Readers' Digest on its recapitalization and General Mills on its acquisition of Pillsbury from Diageo plc.