Jeff Bezos enters news business with $250 million Washington Post acquisition

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has thrown his hat into the news ring and has scooped up The Washington Post newspaper in a $250 million deal. It must be noted that Bezos has not purchased the Washington Post Company, which has other publications - both digital and print - in its kitty.  The deal has been done by Bezos, the world’s 19th richest man, in his sole capacity and Amazon will not be affiliated with the deal.

The renowned newspaper, best known for uncovering the Watergate scandal that led to the high-profile resignation of then US President Richard Nixon in 1974, is a traditional news organisation with a 136-year-old legacy. With the Internet savvy Bezos buying the company, there are some questions being raised about what kind of a future lies ahead for the Post.

An eye on the news business

Bezos has been of the opinion that the web is the future, as far as news is concerned. In an interview to German paper Berliner-Zeitung , Bezos had proclaimed that print publishing would be dead in 20 years and no one would bother paying for news online. So, it’s certainly intriguing that a year later he has bought the The Washington Post.

In a memo to the staff of the newspaper, Bezos said after the purchase, “The Internet is transforming almost every element of the news business: shortening news cycles, eroding long-reliable revenue sources, and enabling new kinds of competition, some of which bear little or no news-gathering costs.”

He went on to write, “There is no map, and charting a path ahead will not be easy. We will need to invent, which means we will need to experiment. Our touchstone will be readers, understanding what they care about - government, local leaders, restaurant openings, scout troops, businesses, charities, governors, sports - and working backwards from there. I’m excited and optimistic about the opportunity for invention.”

Bezos has assured that he will not be leading The Washington Post day-to-day. He wrote that he had a “day job” – a reference to his role as Founder and CEO of Amazon – and he loves doing it. He will still be aiming at trying to stop the bleeding of subscribers at the newspaper. The Wall Street Journal had reported that in the last quarter, The Washington Post’s print division had shown a 4 percent decline in revenue. The company’s websites, including Slate, however had posted an increase of 8 percent to $25.8 million. Slate is not part of the Bezos’ purchases.