Plenty has been written before about the pressures that are wiping out the few independent motorcycle publications in the United States, but the recent closure of Transworld Motocross brings a new and sleazy twist to the now familiar story.
American Media Inc., publisher of The National Enquirer, Men’s Journal and other titles, recently purchased 14 publications from TEN: Publishing’s Adventure Sports Network, as well as the Dew Tour. The magazines covered topics such as surfing, skateboarding, BMX and Transworld Motocross, one of the last independent publications covering the sport. AMI immediately shut down several of the titles it bought, including Transworld Motocross, laying off its entire staff.
The staff has been working to acquire the assets AMI didn’t want and find a way to keep the publication going, in one form or another. I hope they succeed.
I’m not saying Transworld Motocross is the greatest media outlet the motorcycle world has seen. (As a personal opinion, if I see a photo of a woman standing beside a motocross bike, it should be Ashley Fiolek offering tips on getting through the whoops faster, not a model in a bikini and high heels who possibly thinks Supercross is a new, more intense form of Crossfit.) But in any case, Transworld Motocross was one of the few remaining independent publications in the niche, and it’s a shame to lose that voice.
Where the real sleaze comes in
What makes this more interesting than just another case of a motorcycle magazine being closed is the allegation by Jeff Bezos — Amazon founder and CEO and current owner of the Washington Post, among other things — that AMI tried to blackmail him by threatening to publish intimate photos of Bezos and TV personality Lauren Sanchez.
AMI CEO David Pecker was long a supporter of President Trump (though not any more, as he flipped on Trump and is cooperating with investigators) and is under investigation for his involvement in the “catch and kill” activities involving the Trump campaign in 2016, in which the National Enquirer allegedly bought rights to the stories of women who said they had affairs with Donald Trump. The National Enquirer then refused to publish those stories, thus ensuring they wouldn’t come out before the election. Trump has made his distaste for Bezos and the Washington Post very clear. Bezos said representatives of AMI threatened to publish the photos unless Bezos stated publicly that the National Enquirer’s investigation of Bezos was not politically motivated.
Now here’s where the minds behind the National Enquirer miscalculated. They are used to thinking that people can be extorted because they can’t afford the repercussions. They have their business interests to protect and their images to consider. What they didn’t consider in their calculations is that they’re dealing with the richest man in the world. Bezos has what some Wall Street types refer to as “fuck you money.” That basically means you can afford to say that phrase to someone and not starve to death as a result. With a net worth somewhere around $140 billion, Bezos is a million miles beyond that. He has “fuck you money” in his petty cash drawer.
Beyond that, he was already getting divorced from his wife, so he had nothing more to lose there. So he outsmarted the AMI lawyers and revealed the entire scheme himself.
Here’s my point in bringing this up. There’s one detail I’d love to know: I wonder how much AMI paid to get hold of those photos. I have no idea, but I do know that Bezos made them essentially worthless overnight.
You know what would have been a better investment than buying those photos? Continuing to run modestly profitable Transworld Motocross. You know, a publishing company actually publishing a magazine and keeping a small staff of dedicated enthusiasts in their jobs, instead of laying them off and trying your hand at blackmail, instead.
That would have definitely been a better move.
