WEIDER GETS TABLOID BUYER DEAL WITH AMERICAN MEDIA FOR $350 MILLION.

Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer

WOODLAND HILLS - American Media Inc., owner of the National Enquirer and Star, has agreed to buy Weider Publications for $350 million in an effort to broaden the tabloid publisher's persona.

Along with its owner Evercore Partners, American Media will oversee Weider's line of health-oriented magazines including Shape, Muscle & Fitness and Flex. Of the approximate six bidders courting Woodland Hills-based Weider, American Media had been pursuing the company since September. The acquisition, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.

``We will continue to operate as usual and work with American Media to develop our plans and ... integrate our business,'' said J. Russell Denson, president and chief executive officer of Weider Publications. American Media and Weider do not anticipate any job cuts upon the deal's completion.

Publishing companies have endured rough times in the past several years amid a dismal economy and slumping advertising sales. But American Media and Evercore Partners were wooed by Weider's leading glossies. The company's advertising revenues have doubled in the past four years, while circulation has grown at a 16 percent compound annual growth rate.

``They are a great franchise and well positioned in the market,'' said Austin M. Beutner, president of Evercore Partners. ``And we still think publishing is a relatively established investment.''

So does David Pecker, American Media's chief executive, who has been characterized as having an acumen for the magazine world. He left Hachette Filipacchi magazines in 1999 and was backed by Evercore Partners for the $835 million purchase of American Media.

Pecker's latest venture comes at a time when Weider could face a dearth in advertising revenues amid a new Federal Trade Commission initiative. The FTC is posturing to curb the advertising of certain dietary supplements, a vital source of revenue for Weider.

``We still believe Weider's titles have proven to perform through thick and thin,'' said Beutner, who was a potential suitor for Times Mirror Co. in recent years. ``We also believe in Weider's people.''

Joe Weider, founder of Weider Publications, has been producing magazines for more than six decades. In 1940, Weider published Your Physique, which later became Muscle & Fitness. But the Weider name extends far beyond magazines, as the company's parent Weider Health & Fitness owns about 92 percent of Weider Nutrition International Inc. The company manufactures weight-loss products, vitamins and minerals.

Weider Nutrition shares rose 12 cents, or 7.1 percent, to close at $1.82 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Pecker is hoping that Weider's publications division, which boasts about 400 people, will expand American Media's consumer magazine division and transform the company into a media monolith.

``The Weider acquisition gives us ... pre-eminence in the health and fitness industries,'' Pecker said.

William Drummond, a professor of journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, doesn't believe Pecker's pursuits are merely a far- fetched attempt to change tabloid journalism.

``Health magazines are not a dramatic departure from what American Media is already doing,'' Drummond said.

The National Enquirer has changed the focus of its coverage in the past few years. Instead of seeing aliens in the magazine rack, Drummond said the Enquirer is focusing on celebrity journalism.

``The reporting they are doing in this area is credible,'' he said. ``The National Enquirer has become very careful with the information they present. And that's because it's more of a gossip sheet for Hollywood personalities.''

Aside from writing about Hollywood's elite, the Enquirer isn't a neophyte when it comes to producing health-related journalism. In the mid- 1980s, the Enquirer had strong alliances with the American Heart Association and the Arthritis Foundation. Both groups would sign off on the accuracy of health stories published by the tabloid.

``It sounds like Weider and American Media are potentially compatible partners,'' said Roy Peter Clark, senior scholar at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. ``They both focus on external appearance.''

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(color) These two magazines are among Weider's stable of health and fitness publications being bought by American Media.