Flush with cash from a resurgent Us Weekly, Wenner Media CEO Jann Wenner regularly flies around the globe in a plushly appointed private jet. And until recently, his tabloid-publishing rival, American Media's David Pecker, did too.

But the latter may end up in coach if his company's fortunes don't improve soon. Under heavy pressure to stem AMI's bottom line, the owner of the National Enquirer, Star, Globe and sundry other rags has been ordered by his board of directors to stop chartering private planes for his frequent trips between the company's headquarters in Boca Raton and New York, according to insiders.

"He blew so much cash on that chartered jet, you have no idea," sighs an AMI source.

As the company's fortunes have continued to sink, AMI's anxious investors have taken to clipping Pecker's wings, forcing the famously dictatorial exec to cede much of his control over daily operations. Though Pecker still talks a good game, "They're really running the show," says the source. "David doesn't have the power he had before."

One very visible sign of the board's increased clout was the recent decision to replace chief financial officer Carlos Abuanza with John Craven, a former Time Inc. exec who is close to money man Thomas H. Lee. Lee's private equity firm is AMI's biggest backer.

A former financial advisor to Lee tells Radar the firm views closer oversight of AMI as the least lousy of a set of bad options. "Lee can try to sell it, but I doubt there are any buyers. He can force them into bankruptcy, but that doesn't help him, and would leave AMI exposed to scavengers. I think Lee Partners will just have to ride it out and hope for the best."

Meanwhile, despite the cutbacks, Pecker's bad decisions continue to cost the company money. Two insiders said AMI had to pay a huge amount of severance—as much as $1 million—to Paul Field, the British tabloid editor who was brought over from London to take the reins at the Enquirer, only to be fired after 20 months as the title's newsstand sales plummeted.And then there's another one of Pecker's pet projects, One Park, a reality show for Lifetime about the "sexy" lives of AMI employees. Despite reports that taping of the pilot would commence during Fashion Week, insiders say the start date has been pushed back until at least the end of October. Casting, which had already begun, has been postponed as well; as one source explains, given the company's exceedingly high rate of turnover, the concern was that those cast could be working someplace else by the time shooting began.