The closely held American Media Inc. — led by the president’s longtime friend, David Pecker — recorded a $31.5 million loss in the six months that ended Sept. 30, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. That marked an improvement over the previous year, but nonetheless brought the company’s total losses over the last 5 1/2 fiscal years to $256 million. AMI owed about $203 million more than its assets were worth…

AMI’s loss through September includes $70 million of noncash charges, which shows the business was profitable on an operating basis, Chief Financial Officer Chris Polimeni said in an emailed statement. In its most recent financial guidance, published in September, the company said it expected revenue and earnings to grow following a series of acquisitions.