Do you know which computer mastermind bought The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million in cash? The editor who has been in command of The Washington Post newsroom since Jeff Bezos acquired it will step down at the end of the month.
In August 2013, Bezos paid $250 million for the Post. At the time, the decision stunned media and technology observers who saw newspapers as a dying industry and Bezos as someone who was interested in everything but.
Just a year before his acquisition, Bezos told the German daily Berliner-Zeitung that he was convinced of one thing:
“„There will be no printed newspapers in 20 years. Perhaps as luxury products at some hotels that wish to provide them as a high-end service. Printed papers will be obsolete in 20 years.- Jeff Bezos
Who Is Jeff Bezos?
The Story of Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos is an American businessman, philanthropist, and space explorer. He is probably best known for starting the online store Amazon.com. Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com and is the company's CEO, president, and chairman of the board.
In July 2017, he was worth more than Bill Gates for the first time. Between October 2017 and January 2021, he was always the richest person in the world. At the time this was written, Jeff Bezos was worth $127 billion.
According to the company's most recent SEC filing, Jeff owns 55 million Amazon shares, which is about 12% of all the shares that are currently in circulation. At his highest point, he owned 80 million Amazon shares.
Jeff gave 19.7 million shares to MacKenzie Bezos as part of their divorce settlement in April 2019. At the time of the change, the shares were worth $36 billion.
Jeff's net worth dropped from $150 billion to $114 billion because of the settlement. Jeff also put moneyinto Google.com before it went public. He owns at least $1 billion worth of shares in what is now called Alphabet Inc.
Jeff wasn't even in the top 10 or 20 richest people on the planet for most of the 2000s. Amazon stock began to skyrocket in late 2014. Jeff was worth $50 billion in July 2015. Both his net worth and the value of the stock had doubled in less than two years.
Bill Gates was the richest person in the world until July 27, 2017, when Bezos passed him. Amazon's market cap went over $1 trillion in September 2018. Before he got divorced, he still had 80 million shares. At that point, Jeff's net worth was worth more than $170 billion, which was an all-time high at the time.
Jeff Bezos Bought The Washington Post For $250 Million
Amazon CEO is buying Washington Post for $250 million
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon paid $250 million in cash for The Washington Post. This is an ironic move for a businessman whose company has always kept its distance from the press.
The purchase takes the newspaper away from the Graham family, one of the most famous media families in U.S. history, and gives it to one of the most media-averse techmoguls of the 21st century.
Even though Amazon has been making contentdeals left and right, both as a book publisher and as a streaming video service through Amazon Prime, this is different.
Amazon didn't have anything to do with the purchase, which suggests that Bezos has something else in mind. It looks like Bezos just wants to own a newspaper, and maybe he wants to improve the health of the normally liberal Post.
The Post Company's biggest source of income, the Kaplan test-prep division, was not part of the deal. Also missing were Slate, TheRoot.com, and Foreign Policy.
How Did The Washington Post Change Under Jeff Bezos?
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, bought the Washington Post in 2013. Within three years, the paper's web traffic had doubled and it was making money, which was a big deal for a media company that had been struggling since the financial crisis.
The quick turnaround is impressive, but the Post's former publisher, Donald Graham, says that what sets Bezos apart from other CEOs is not his ability to get things done quickly, but rather his "extreme long-term mindedness."
Graham could tell you. Six years ago, he was the one who helped his family sell their newspaper to Bezos. Graham said that when he was looking for a new owner for The Washington Post, he was a "massive Amazon customer," and his first thought after talking to Bezos was "how well that company worked."
Graham says that Amazon's success is due to Bezos's "usual trait" of thinking about the long term. Bezos's focus on the long term is probably why some of his business ideasare nothing short of moonshots. For example, Amazon (AMZN) changed the publishing industry and then commerce as a whole.
He also started Blue Origin, an aerospace exploration company whose motto is "Step by step, ferociously." After 24 years, Amazon (AMZN) is worth almost $900 billion. In September 2018, it became the second company after Apple to be worth more than $1 trillion.
He said he asked Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin questions like, “what would you do if you were the owner of a newspaper? How would you go about trying to adapt it to the digital age?”
Graham hoped that Bezos could help change the Post from a local newspaper focused on print to a digital brand known all over the world.
“„It seemed to us that having someone who knew a lot about the future, technology, and ways to get information to readers as the owner was a big plus.- Donald Graham
Graham had a point. Under Bezos's ownership, the Post went from losing money on advertising to making money in 2016. It continued to make money in 2017, and CNN has learned that it will do so again in 2018.
Graham says that Bezos has brought a lot of tech talent to the Post. Since the acquisition, the paper has hired more than 250 people, bringing the total number of journalists in its newsroom to about 900.
It has also built a brand-new content management systemand started selling licenses for it. The paper is also a leader in community engagementby being present and active on platforms like Reddit and TikTok.
The Washington Post went from being a local print paper to a national news source when publisher Fred Ryan announced in September 2017 that it had "crossed the 1 million mark for paid digital-only subscribers," a number that has now grown to over 1.5 million.
Bezos said in public that he had to "search his heart" before joining The Washington Post. He didn't know anything about running a newspaper, but his talks with Graham made him realize how important it was to take on the challenge.
Graham said that he is glad that Bezos has such a long-term view of his relationship with the Comment.
“„He’s an extraordinarily abled businessman. And both his technology brilliance and his businessbrilliance will come in very handy to the Washington Post over his lifetime.- Donald Graham
People Also Ask
Did Jeff Bezos Really Buy The Washington Post?
When Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post from the Graham family in 2013, these problems did not come to mind right away. The Post was losing staff and getting closer and closer to being irrelevant.
How Much Did Jeff Bezos Buy Washington Post?
Since Bezos bought the newspaper for $250 million in 2013, The Post has added over 200 people to its newsroom, which now has 900 journalists. It has also won praise and awards for its coverage of the Trump administration, among other things.
Does The Washington Post Make A Profit?
After making money for years, the organization is on track to lose money in 2022, say two people who know about its finances. Several people at the organization say that the Post has less than the three million paying digital subscribers it thought it would have by the end of 2020.
Conclusion
Jeff Bezos, the founder, and CEO of Amazon is the computer mastermind who bought The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million in cash.
Bezos also bought the Express newspaper, The Gazette Newspapers, Southern Maryland Newspapers, Fairfax County Times, El Tiempo Latino, and Greater Washington Publishing.
The Washington Post Company will keep Slate magazine, TheRoot.com, Foreign Policy, Kaplan, Post–Newsweek Stations, Cable ONE, and other parts of the business.