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Vinco Ventures, which was poised to acquire the tabloid the National Enquirer earlier this year, as well as its sister publications Globe, National Examiner and the National Enquirer U.K., has in recent months become embroiled in a saga so sensational that it could have been plucked from the pages of the Enquirer itself.
Vinco Ventures initially sought to acquire the celebrity gossip titles in February through a joint venture for $100 million.
But by July, the deal had fallen apart, and a series of internal power struggles, lawsuits and executive arrests—including the incarceration of its one-time co-CEO, former MoviePass chairman Ted Farnsworth—has since consumed Vinco Ventures.
The resulting disarray has left the fate of the National Enquirer and its sister brands uncertain; they remain under the ownership of existing owners, a360 Media. The company did not respond to Adweek’s request for comment.
The dramatics surrounding the National Enquirer and its thwarted attempts to sell itself reflect both the challenging economics of digital media, as well as the bleak M&A landscape for the sector.
“The universe of buyers for digital media is smaller than it’s ever been, and the price of media assets has fallen dramatically,” said founder of The Rebooting Brian Morrissey. “When those factors come together, you open the door to an entirely new set of buyers.”
The almost-acquisition adds yet another salacious chapter to the story of the National Enquirer, whose last few years have been marked by controversy.
In 2018, its parent company was fined by the Federal Election Commission over a 2016 “catch and kill” scheme related to former President Donald Trump. In 2019, a360 Media tried to sell the National Enquirer to magazine distributor James Cohen for $100 million, but the deal never closed.
Bankruptcy and lawsuits at Vinco Ventures
After abandoning its attempt to acquire the National Enquirer in July, Vinco Ventures has struggled to remain operational, losing key executives, its status as a publicly traded company and the business of several of its portfolio companies, according to court documents and public filings.
In August, Farnsworth, the architect of the failed National Enquirer acquisition, was arrested in New York. He had been indicted by the SEC last November on charges stemming from his time at MoviePass, according to court documents.