• NY Times, Wednesday, April 5, 2006 11:15 AM

Acknowledging that New York City was too costly, American Media Inc. has decided to move its tabloid unit back to South Florida, where it had been based for many years until CEO David Pecker thought it made sense to relocate it to the country's media capital.  The decision to send the National Enquirer and its siblings packing is but the latest sign that AMI is under pressure from its board to produce better numbers.  At the same time it made the announcement concerning its tabloid unit, AMI said it was shuttering Celebrity Living, a weekly magazine it launched just a year ago. Celebrity Living, which underwent redesign after redesign, never found an audience, despite having been awarded many of AMI's premium supermarket pockets. Competition among celeb-oriented magazines was just too intense. The AMI book, under the supervision of editorial director Bonnie Fuller, was selling against People, Us Weekly, and In Touch Weekly, among others. Also yesterday, AMI said it would fold MPH, its car-buff magazine, which competed as a somewhat younger-demo variant against Car and Driver, Motor Trend, and Automobile. In related magazine-industry news, Hachette Filipacchi has announced that it will shut down Elle Girl, saying the teen market was simply too cluttered.  However, the ellegirl.com Web site will continue.

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