Business Notes PUBLISHING

Forget about the trade deficits or all that fuss in Lithuania. Readers of the National Enquirer (circ. 4.1 million) and its bitter rival Star magazine (3.6 million) know what the real news is. DOLLY PARTON GETS GIANT NEW BUST IMPLANTS!, shrieked a recent issue of the Star, while the Enquirer offered a must-read yarn headlined ED MCMAHON FLIES INTO RAGE. For 16 years the dueling scandal sheets brought blood-and-guts drama to U.S. supermarket checkout counters. But the publishing pugilism came to an end last week when the owner of the National Enquirer, New York City-based G.P. Group, agreed to buy the Star from media mogul Rupert Murdoch for $400 million.

Launched by Murdoch in 1974, the Star was one of his first U.S. successes. The Star will operate separately from its new sister publication. So on the surface at least the tussling tabs will still vie for the dirt on wayward celebrities and errant aliens.