Washington Post Sold To Amazon's Jeff Bezos For $250 Million
Politico
By DYLAN BYERS
8/5/13 4:33 PM EDT
Excerpt:
The Washington Post has been sold to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for $250 million, an historic transition that brings an end to eight decades of ownership by the Washington Post Company.
The announcement, unexpected even by the Post's own staff, stunned the media industry and sent shockwaves around Washington D.C.
"This is a day that my family and I never expected to come. The Washington Post Company is selling the newspaper it has owned and nurtured for eight decades," publisher and CEO Katharine Weymouth wrote in a letter to staff.
"The buyer is one of America’s great innovators and most respected business leaders, Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer and founder of Amazon.com," she wrote. "Jeff is making this acquisition in his personal capacity and not as part of Amazon."
The transaction covers The Washington Post and other publishing businesses, including the Express newspaper, The Gazette Newspapers, Southern Maryland Newspapers, Fairfax County Times, El Tiempo Latino and Greater Washington Publishing.
In a separate letter to staff, Bezos promised that his ownership would bring no radical change to the paper's core values, but said the paper would need to "invent" and "experiment" to keep pace with the transformations in digital journalism.
"The values of The Post do not need changing," he wrote. "The paper’s duty will remain to its readers and not to the private interests of its owners. We will continue to follow the truth wherever it leads, and we’ll work hard not to make mistakes. When we do, we will own up to them quickly and completely."
In that vein, Bezos announced that he has asked Weymouth, president and general manager Stephen P. Hills, executive editor Martin Baron, and editorial page editor Fred Hiatt to continue in their current roles.
"There will of course be change at The Post over the coming years," Bezos added. "That’s essential and would have happened with or without new ownership.
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