Monday, August 12, 2013

postheadericon Washington Post sold: Amazon's Bezos shocks media with $250m purchase

11:43 AM | Posted by ProJ | | Edit Post

control agreement ending 80 years the role of the Graham family, who directed the message to national prominence

The Washington Post sold to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon distribution giant, in a move that surprised even seasoned observers of the crisis in the industry of the American press.

The agreement to sell one of the legendary titles in American newspapers control late 80 years, the role of the Graham family, who ran the message through journalism brand as Watergate national prominence in 1972. The deal was done in such secrecy that even the very stability of investigative journalists post were taken by surprise when the newspaper published on its website a report on the transfer.

"This is absolutely amazing news," commentator Jim Romenesko told the Guardian. "Equally surprising is that it does not leak in a building full of investigative journalists."

According to the story the message itself, the initiative for the sale of the family is from Graham and Bezos. Donald Graham, CEO of Washington Post Co., which currently holds the title, use an investment firm to address six "contenders" amid tight security before choosing Bezos.

The sale price was set at $ 250 million, a relatively modest sum for such a legendary institution - 1% of the huge personal wealth by Bloomberg Bezos has made $ 22 billion. The figure elegantly reflects the dire economic situation of most of the best stories in the news in the United States, coming as it does just days after the sale of the Boston Globe by The New York Times Co with Red Sox owner John Henry for a more lean $ 70 million.

Graham said his own newspaper, after four generations of the family property, "all members of my family have started with the same excitement - download -., Even thinking about selling the post office, but when the idea of ??a transaction with Jeff Bezos came, my feelings changed. "

Graham added: ".. The message could survive under the ownership of the company and has been profitable for the foreseeable future, but I wanted to do more than survive"

According to the Post, Katharine Weymouth, the niece of Graham, will continue to serve as editor and managing editor of the newspaper after his transfer to Bezos. "No layoffs are planned as a result of the transaction," the newspaper said.'s Graham retain control of the site Slate, business education and Kaplan, at least for now, the building that houses the Washington Post, which is for sale.
  • The end of the dynasty Graham is the latest in a long list of properties for each family who have succumbed to the economic struggle that has spread through the traditional media companies in the United States . States. with the advent of the Internet. The casualties include the Bancroft family that sold the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones to Rupert Murdoch in 2007, leaving the Sulzberger family continues to lead in the New York Times as examples pillars endangered.
  • At the other end of the extraordinary crisis in the fortunes brought the digital revolution are the same Bezos, Amazon, which began in the garage of his home in Washington State in 1994. Since then, he started a band across the publishing industry and through traditional retail stores are struggling to keep up with the flexibility and taste for innovation.
Bezos told the Post that, as the new owner would go into "uncharted waters" that "requires experimentation." He tried to calm this fear could provide editorial interference rule saying "do not change with or without a new owner. But the key I hope people take away from this is that the note values ??should not be changed . 's Duty work is that readers, not the owners. "

the sale was a complete surprise to most Correos, and surprised the world of American media. "All this happened with the admirable and surprising secret," said Jeff Jarvis, a journalism professor at the University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City.

Jarvis expressed reservations about the post is held by CEO of Amazon, relatively reserved. "Bezos does not believe in openness. And that worries me. Both the performance of a newspaper, how an institution of Washington and operates the need for experimental business model to produce outdoor good for the entire industry. "


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