Shock! Sale! Enquirer goes for $100M!!

More unbelievable than an Elvis Presley sighting or Hillary Clinton deathbed exclusive, American Media Inc. has “reached an agreement in principle” to sell the National Enquirer to Hudson News CEO James Cohen.

Selling the struggling scandal sheet, along with its sister rags the Globe and National Examiner, will net $100 million for its embattled media empire, according to the Washington Post, which broke the story. AMI confirmed a sale was in the works and would commence “as soon as possible.”

According to a press release from AMI, the deal with Hudson News includes a “multiyear service contract that will generate substantial fees for American Media to provide publishing, financial and distribution services for the tabloid brands.”

The lower Manhattanbased tabloid publisher also controls titles including In Touch, Us Weekly, OK! and Star. AMI reportedly purchased Us Weekly for $100 million in March 2017.

Hudson News is ubiquitous in airports where it claims to have almost 1,000 stores in nearly 90 markets.

AMI, and the Enquirer in particular, found themselves in the news throughout special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The company was accused of helping thencandidate Donald Trump “catch and kill” stories about an alleged marital infidelity that could have hurt his chances of being elected.

AMI executives David Pecker and Dylan Howard struck amnesty deals with investigators in exchange for their participation in the investigation.

Paul Pope, whose father Generoso is credited with turning the 93-year-old publication into a powerhouse tabloid when he purchased it in 1952, told The Wrap Tuesday that he doesn’t envision a scenario in which the Enquirer overcomes its woes, which reportedly includes plummeting circulation numbers. In 2014, the Enquirer sold 516,000 copies per week.