Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is set to purchase America’s most prestigious newspaper Washington Post by the year end, according to Adage.
The CEO of the largest electronic commerce website is looking ahead to take over the most traditional medium of communication and further expanding its business.
Bezos brought off many other newspapers along with the Washington Post. His purchase includes The Gazette, The Express, FairFax, County Times, Greater Washington Publishing and El Tiempo Latino.
However, derivatives of the Washington Post – Slate, Foreign Policy, TheRoot.com, Kaplan and even the social agency SocialCode – will not be part of the purchase and will run as independent businesses under a separate name.
The deal is expected to close towards the end of this year.
As Bezos makes purchase, different questions and controversies are doing rounds in the industry.
Katharine Weymouth, publisher and CEO of the Post, thinks Jeff has the ability to rejuvenate The Post and hence, she plans to stay on board, after the take-over, and also urged her employees to do so in a memo released on Monday.
Washington Post’s revenues decreased to 44% for a cumulative six years and this not how the newspaper used to function.
According to Bezos’ point of view, the Washington Post has maintained a strong position, with excellent references and a strong market penetration, targeting traditional readers who prefer to read news in paper rather than their smartphones.
According to Bezos, Washington Post will continue maintaining its current position; however, a change of direction is in order for the paper to have positive outlook revenue wise.
