Jeff Bezos buys The Washington Post. What does that mean for Amazon?
Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of online bookselling titan Amazon, has inked a deal to buy The Washington Post.
wrote a letter to the employees of the paper via the Post. In it, he acknowledged 鈥渕any of you will greet [the news] with a degree of apprehension.鈥�
鈥淭he values of The Post do not need changing," he wrote. "The paper鈥檚 duty will remain to its readers and not to the private interests of its owners.... We will need to invent, which means we will need to experiment鈥�. Journalism plays a critical role in a free society, and The Washington Post 鈥� as the hometown paper of the capital city of the United States 鈥� is especially important. I would highlight two kinds of courage the Grahams have shown as owners that I hope to channel. The first is the courage to say wait, be sure, slow down, get another source. Real people and their reputations, livelihoods and families are at stake. The second is the courage to say follow the story, no matter the cost.鈥�
Bezos mentioned in the letter that 鈥淚 won鈥檛 be leading The Washington Post day-to-day. I am happily living in 'the other Washington' where I have a day job that I love.鈥澛�
The newspaper was purchased by an entity that belongs to Bezos alone, not Amazon.
Donald E. Graham, CEO of the Washington Post Company and its chairman, said he and CEO and publisher of the Post Katharine Weymouth decided to sell after 鈥測ears of familiar newspaper-industry challenges made us wonder if there might be another owner who would be better for the Post (after a transaction that would be in the best interest of our shareholders). Jeff Bezos' proven technology and business genius, his long-term approach and his personal decency make him a uniquely good new owner for the Post."
What does this mean for Amazon? writer Lydia DePillis said she didn鈥檛 think the fact that Bezos purchased the newspaper on his own meant much.
鈥淒on鈥檛 be deceived by the fact that Bezos is buying it himself, rather than Amazon,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淭here鈥檚 little reason to believe this is a passion project. It just would鈥檝e been tricky to make it a public takeover, because corporations don鈥檛 know how to value a newspaper鈥檚 future earnings. And besides, though the markets have been remarkably patient with Amazon鈥檚 continued losses, a money pit like the Post would鈥檝e been harder to stomach.鈥�
As pointed out by independent bookstore newsletter , the fact that Bezos will own the premier newspaper of the nation鈥檚 capital is a little worrying for other booksellers, especially considering Amazon鈥檚 recent relationship with the government.聽
鈥淭he major concern is that the purchase gives Bezos and Amazon much more influence in Washington than he already has, considering that the Justice Department has made life much easier for Amazon with the e-book agency model price collusion case and that President Obama last week began touting Amazon as a leader in creating good jobs and expanding the economy,鈥� the staff wrote in a column. 鈥淎ll we can say is that for the people who have called us paranoid about Amazon's plans for world domination, we rest our case 鈥� nervously.鈥�
writer Matt Buchanan agreed that Amazon can only benefit from this move.
鈥淎mazon could stand to gain from its C.E.O. owning one of the powerful and vocal institutions in Washington, D.C., given the company鈥檚 entanglements with legislation regarding the collection of sales tax, for instance, and pursued against its rival in the e-book business, Apple, by the Department of Justice,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淎nd it would do well for one of the nation鈥檚 most respected papers to ignore or play down allegations of brutal work conditions at Amazon鈥檚 warehouses, where overtime can be mandatory, productivity rates approach unsustainability for many workers, and temperatures in the summer can reach a hundred degrees.鈥�
Meanwhile, writer Henry Blodget suggested that Amazon鈥檚 ongoing efforts to produce original content could dovetail with Bezos's ownership of the Post.
鈥淎mazon distributes massive amounts of print and digital content,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淭he content the Washington Post publishes and distributes could be bundled or distributed with that content. And, similarly, the content that Amazon produces 鈥� mainly commerce-related, but increasingly media 鈥� could be integrated with the Washington Post's content, offering more choices for customers and consumers.... Subscribers to Amazon's 'Prime' delivery service already get to watch free movies and TV shows. Amazon Kindle buyers already have access to free books. It's easy to imagine that Prime subscribers and Kindle buyers will soon have convenient, free access to the Washington Post 鈥� and that this access might make a Prime subscription or Kindle ownership more valuable. Washington Post reporters, meanwhile, could produce an endless supply of ebooks and Kindle Singles.鈥�
All of which could be good news for both the Post and for Amazon. But for the rest of us?
Fasten your seatbelt and stay tuned.聽
