In a stealth move that shocked the media world and beyond, the venerable Washington Post newspaper is being sold to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for $250 million.
Bezos, one of the world's richest people, with a net worth of $27.9 billion, will own the paper individually, with no involvement from Amazon.
CEO Donald Graham made the announcement to the surprised staff yesterday at 4:30 p.m.
"There was an audible gasp," Marty Baron, the executive editor of the paper, told The Post.
Baron said he had only been brought into the process "last week" and said he was not part of the blow-by-blow that prompted the Graham family, which has owned the newspaper for 80 years, to decide the paper had to be sold.
NY Post: David Rentas
COZY CORNER: Jeff Bezos (left) found a rapt audience in Washington Post legend Katharine Graham and her son, current CEO Donald Graham, during the 2001 edition of the Alllen & Co. media mogul conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. Twelve years later the founder of Amazon.com has agreed to buy the storied newspaper.
"Every member of my family started out with the same emotion — shock — in even thinking about" selling the Post, said Graham in an interview with the Washington Post. "But when the idea of a transaction with Jeff Bezos came up, it altered my feelings."
The Washington Post, like many newspapers, has been buffeted in recent years by circulation declines and stiff drops in advertising revenue.
Daily circulation of the famed daily, which helped uncover the Watergate scandal and topple President Richard Nixon, has fallen 14 percent during the past three years, to 474,767.
The Washington Post Co.'s newspaper group, which also includes smaller community papers, had an operating loss of $53.7 million last year.
"The Post could have survived under the company's ownership and been profitable for the foreseeable future," Graham said. "But we wanted to do more than survive. I'm not saying this guarantees success, but it gives us a much greater chance of success."
Baron said he had not met personally with Bezos but had assurances that current management would stay in place.
Indeed, Bezos, in a letter to employees, pledged not to replace management and to be a hands-off boss working in Seattle, which he called "the other Washington."
"The values of The Post do not need changing," Bezos said in the letter. "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."
"I don't want to imply that I have a worked-out plan," Bezos said. "This will be uncharted terrain, and it will require experimentation."
The Graham family had hired the Allen & Co. investment firm to shop the paper. Bezos was one of six suitors, the company said.
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