Monday, August 5, 2013

Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post

Didn't see that coming.

17 comments:

Methadras said...

Well, he stole it for a mere $250 and will try to rehab it. He's going to lose his shirt on it. But he has many shirts and can get more through his own portal.

edutcher said...

One presumes he needs a write-off.

ampersand said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Methadras said...

Sorry, it was $250 million. I forgot to add that for some reason. I guess it feels like $250 when you are that wealthy.

The Dude said...

Putz! That works on so many levels!

ndspinelli said...

Bezos has a space station out in the west Texas desert. He'll get to Mars before he turns the Post around.

Paddy O said...

Makes sense to me. He can afford the loss it will take to reposition the Post. He has a huge media reach with Amazon and the Kindle especially. Keeping it separate from Amazon means it's not the news arm of Amazon.com, but I'll bet we start seeing a lot of Post offers and features as the news source projected through the Kindle. He's brilliant at customer service and adapting to changing markets.

It'll be interesting to watch his moves with it. If there's any hope for newspapers, Bezos might just be the one to find it.

ampersand said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rhhardin said...

He may have wanted rights to the march.

ndspinelli said...

Is Ben Bradlee still editor?

The Dude said...

It's always 1974 at the Post.

Michael Haz said...

Maybe he'll turn it into a giant online Instapundit......

JAL said...

Can the Kochs have the LA Times?

William said...

After Steinbrenner bought the Yankees, he was not just a rich man, but the rich man who owned the Yankees. The head waiter made sure he got a good table and quick. Something similar will happen with Bezos. He will not have to curry favor with Washington politicians. They're the ones who will go out of heir way to be his new best friend. If Bezos has any ideas about amending the copyright laws,they will listen with rapt attention.....The Post may be fading, but there's more than one way to make it pay.

virgil xenophon said...

What William said! Dead on..

Joe Schmoe said...

William, yes, good point. Bezos may be taking a page from Jeff Immelt at GE. Note that when Immelt became an Obama advisor, we now had laws outlawing incandescent bulbs in favor of CFLs, and we got laws promoting alternative energy sources like solar and wind. And guess who makes CFLs and windmills!

Not only are the copyright laws at issue, but the insatiable maw of government is dying to throw an internet sales tax blanket over the whole consarned industry. If Bezos is hoping to shape that in his favor, I guess I can't blame him.

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