Why is it that magazines will pay so much for a stars first baby picture?

Question

I mean some companys are having trouble staying a float, but they are paying millions for the first picture of a baby!

Answer 1

because more people will buy it, and more companies will pay more to have ads in it =]

Answer 2

For some reason celebrity babies are very hot right now. A magazine with good, exclusive picture will sell a huge amount of copies that more than make up for the millions they paid for the picture in the first place. Don't forget, in publishing, the more copies you sell makes you money not only in the form of the cover price--the most important thing is the ad revenue you will get as a result of that circulation. So the million dollar investment in, say, Jamie Lynn Spear's pics, will pay itself off at least triple-fold.