Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has entered into an agreement to purchase The Washington Post. He is putting down close to $250 million dollars for the acquisition, and it’s a personal investment. Amazon has nothing to do with the sale right now, and Bezos seems to be enamored with news. Recently he made a $5 million investment in Business Insider earlier this year, and Amazon last week published a long-form Q&A with President Barack Obama on its Kindle Singles platform.
According to a recent article on The Washington Post they mentioned, “The deal represents a sudden and stunning turn of events for The Post, Washington’s leading newspaper for decades and a powerful force in shaping the nation’s politics and policy. Few people were aware that a sale was in the works for the paper, whose reporters have broken such stories as the Watergate scandals and, in May, disclosures about the National Security Administration’s surveillance program. ”
This is a good time for new ownership as the family run business has suffered a 44% decline in operating revenue over the past six years. Although the paper is one of the most popular news sources online, print circulation has dwindled, too, falling an additional 7%. Bezos mentioned in an email to staff that things are going to dramatically change, but what those changes might be is anyone’s guess.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.