From the NY Post

November 6, 2002 -- People has outgunned Us Weekly in another wild photo bidding war.

Sources say the Time Inc. magazine spent $30,000 for a picture of Britney Spears wearing a T-shirt that says "Dump him" across the chest.

The photo was shot in London, where Britney was on a recording gig, in the middle of last week.

It is the latest in a series of bidding battles between the Wenner Media title, edited by Bonnie Fuller, and the most profitable magazine in the world, People, edited by Martha Nelson.

But upstart In Touch, which is about to publish its third weekly issue (with a $1.99 cover price), may be having the last laugh on both of them.

Insiders there said the new mag also purchased a Britney photo, apparently with the same T-shirt, but for a more standard price - less than $1,000.

"We got ours from a new photo shop over there," snickered one In Touch insider. "We got it the old-fashioned way: We asked if anyone else over there had the shot, and we found a guy who had almost the identical shot."

People Assistant Managing Editor Larry Hackett shrugged off the In Touch move as a lucky break.

"Sometimes photos come in later," he said. "We don't want to be in the position of waiting around to see if there's a second batch of pictures the next day."