Scandal Sheet Up for Grabs! All Yours for $400 Million?

Trustees for the estate of National Enquirer publisher Generoso Pope Jr. on Tuesday announced that the splashy supermarket tabloid is for sale.

Pope, who died Oct. 2 of a heart attack at his beachfront home, built the chronicle of UFOs and celebrities’ woes from a small New York tabloid to a glitzy weekly with a 4.5 million circulation.

Although trustees have not set a price for the Enquirer and its sister tabloid, the Weekly World News, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that one observer valued the Enquirer at about $400 million.

The terms of his trust allow for the tabloids to be sold when practical, said Jerome S. Traum, one of three trustees for the estate. The other trustees are Peter P. Peterson, a New York investment banker, and Citibank.

Traum said they decided to sell the Enquirer after they became aware of the tremendous interest in the paper. However, despite “many indications of interest,” there had been no negotiations yet, he said.

“We expect that all the major (media) players will probably be involved in the selection of the final purchaser,” Traum said.

“I anticipate that they will be sold together, although we are flexible enough to consider any proposal,” Traum said. “There have been no bids. . . . There has been a great deal of interest expressed.”

The two tabloids are the only media properties of GP Group.

Traum declined to identify potential bidders, but said the process would be conducted in such a way as to maximize opportunity among bidders, including family members and the company’s current management.

“Our commitment to an open process is broad enough to permit offers from family members or management to be considered,” Traum said. “The process will be a competitive one and the offers (from family or management) will have to stand on their own merits.”

Pope was survived by his wife, Lois; children Gene, Gina, Paul, Michele, Maria and Lorraine; his mother, Catherine, and brothers Fortune and Anthony.

But newspaper industry analyst Edward Atorino of Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. in New York said the fear of being tainted by the Enquirer’s scandal-sheet image most likely would prevent major media companies from bidding.

Although the Enquirer flourished, it has been the target of several celebrity suits. Carol Burnett won $800,000 in a 1981 suit for libel.

The sale of the Enquirer and the Weekly World News, with 1.1 million readers, will be handled by the Blackstone Group, a New York investment banking firm chaired by Peterson, and at least one other investment banking firm.

Following Pope’s death, the Enquirer’s president and editor, Ian Calder, was named chairman of GP Group, which owns the tabloids.