PAX Prospect Acquisition Corp.

American Media Appoints Thomas Eugene Severson Jr. Chief Financial Officer NEW YORK, Dec. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- David Pecker, Chairman and CEO of American Media, Inc. (AMI), today announced the appointment of Thomas Eugene Severson, Jr., as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the company. The appointment is effective immediately. Mr. Severson is replacing John Miley, who resigned for health reasons, but who will continue to act for the company as a financial consultant. An executive with an extensive experience in media companies, Mr. Severson was previously with Paxson Communications Corporation (AMEX:PAX), a broadcast television station group and network where he was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. During his four years at Paxson, Mr. Severson helped reengineer its financial and accounting functions and successfully refinanced all of Paxon's debt and certain preferred stocks. These financing transactions provided Paxson additional liquidity and significantly strengthened their balance sheet. Mr. Severson also was Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer for Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., where, during his tenure, the company grew from 12 to 65 television stations and also acquired and sold a top 20 radio station group. "Tom's strong media company background is a perfect fit for AMI," said Mr. Pecker in commenting on Mr. Severson's hire. "His advice and experience is essential to our team as AMI continues to expand and diversify its operations." Mr. Pecker also extended his gratitude to Mr. Miley for his years of service to AMI and wished him well in his future endeavors. "I feel fortunate to be part of David's world class management team which has marquee equity sponsorship from Thomas H. Lee Partners and Evercore Partners," Mr. Severson said. "I look forward to building upon the terrific accomplishments that the AMI finance team has made." Prior to his media experience, Mr. Severson served in the audit practices of Deloitte & Touche and KPMG Peat Marwick. He is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Baltimore and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Severson will be based at AMI's office in Boca Raton, Fla. American Media, Inc. is one of the largest media companies in the U.S. and the leading publisher of celebrity journalism, health and fitness and Spanish language magazines. These include the all new glossy Star magazine, Shape, Men's Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Muscle & Fitness Hers, Flex, Fit Pregnancy and Natural Health magazines, the largest newsstand Latino magazine, Mira!; and Shape En Espanol magazine, The National Enquirer, the best selling country music magazine, Country Weekly; and the QUICK! family of digests, which focuses on the issues of family, finance, food, diet, health, home, pets and relationships. In addition to print properties, AMI owns Distribution Services, Inc., the country's #1 in-store magazine merchandising company. DATASOURCE: American Media, Inc. CONTACT: Stuart Zakim of American Media Inc., +1-212-743-6524,

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