American Media Says It Will Investigate Bezos' Claims Against It

(Bloomberg) -- American Media Inc. said it believes it acted lawfully in reporting the story of Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos and his extramarital affair, but that it will investigate claims by the CEO that it was politically motivated.

“American Media believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos,” the company said in a statement Friday. “Further, at the time of the recent allegations made by Mr. Bezos, it was in good faith negotiations to resolve all matters with him. Nonetheless, in light of the nature of the allegations published by Mr. Bezos, the Board has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims. Upon completion of that investigation, the Board will take whatever appropriate action is necessary.”

In a shocking Medium post Thursday, Bezos outlined in great detail what he said was extortion and blackmail by AMI’s National Enquirer and its publisher, David Pecker. After the Enquirer published an expose on Bezos’ relationship with former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez, Bezos hired investigators to find out if the story was politically motivated. Bezos said the Enquirer threatened to publish more details and revealing photos if the executive didn’t stop the probe.

To contact the reporter on this story: Molly Schuetz in New York at mschuetz9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Crayton Harrison at tharrison5@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III

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