Jeff Bezos Buys The Washington Post

Posted on August 5, 2013

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has purchased The Washington Post. Bezos will pay $250 million in cash for The Post and affiliated publications to the Washington Post Co. The Post Co. will change its name after the sale. The newspapers will be owned by Bezos and will not be owned or managed by Amazon.com.

The Washington Post says its revenues from its newspaper division have plunged 44% over the past six years. The Post quotes Donald Graham, the Post Co.'s chief executive, as saying, "Every member of my family started out with the same emotion-shock-in even thinking about selling The Post. But when the idea of a transaction with Jeff Bezos came up, it altered my feelings. The Post could have survived under the company's ownership and been profitable for the foreseeable future. But we wanted to do more than survive. I'm not saying this guarantees success but it gives us a much greater chance of success."

Jeff Bezos wrote a letter to employees of The Washington Post, which was published by The Post. Bezos said in the letter, "The values of The Post do not need changing. The paper�s duty will remain to its readers and not to the private interests of its owners."