(HUMBUG PRESS INTERNATIONAL)
The Humbug Journal has ascertained that the bidder who purchased a Picasso for $104.1 million is a group of baseball executives headed by art collector Jeffrey Loria (owner, Florida Marlins), Bob DuPuy (President, Major League Baseball) and parking lot mogul Frank McCourt (owner, Los Angeles Dodgers).

McCourt helped the group finance the entire purchase through a series of loans, equity partnerships, and pre-arranged promotional deals. The group supplied no capital of its own to acquire the painting, titled "Boy With A Pipe".

The first promotional deal will take place in June, when the painting will be modified slightly to participate in an advertising campaign promoting a new motion picture.

A source familiar with the Picasso group explains the promotion like this: 'We need to reach out to a younger demographic to bring them to the museums. Our research shows that we have a huge opportunity with kids, to bring them into painting. We needed to engage them in relevant and meaningful ways. It's the future of how we generate excitement inside the museum and about art itself."

Picasso's work is now relevant and meaningful.

"This is the perfect alliance between two quintessential art forms, painting and movies," said the source. "This partnership celebrates superheroes, whether they are on the canvas or on the big screen and we are extremely excited about the opportunity to create this unique promotion."

"It will become a part of our continuing marketing efforts to appeal to younger art lovers in new and non-traditional ways," added the source. "We anticipate that the painting will break records at our museums and movie will be a hit in the theaters."

[UPDATE: Our source has denied making these statements. "I never said that," said the source. "Don't put words into my mouth. Listen to what I say. That's not what I said."

Humbug regrets having said that he said what he said. It's an isolated mistake. We're not like that. That's not who we are. We do not intend to step down. We will stay the course. Humbug stands by its name.]