How Jeff Bezos ruined the Washington Post and why he should sell it

The archetypal clip I spoke to Jeff Bezos, helium had founded Amazon arsenic an online bookstore and made himself disposable to each kinds of journalists — a "political genius," said the New York Times Magazine, a "brilliant, charming, hyper, and misleadingly goofy mastermind." In 1999, having blown past the naysayers who scoffed astatine the unusual conception of online retailing, the 35-year-old businessman was named Time’s Person of the Year.

Nearly a decade-and-a-half later, arsenic 1 of the world’s richest men, Bezos spent $250 cardinal of his idiosyncratic luck to bargain the Washington Post from Katharine Graham’s family.

And present helium should fold his cards and merchantability it.

It’s a antithetic epoch for the manufacture and a precise antithetic Bezos, 1 who is comfy slashing a 3rd of the paper’s staff.

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Having initially declared that "the work of the insubstantial is to the readers, not the owners," Bezos, whose Blue Origin institution has national contracts, is actively trying to repair his once-strained narration with President Donald Trump. Amazon donated $1 cardinal to Trump’s inauguration.

While absorption has made much than its stock of mistakes, I don’t deliberation it’s an exaggeration to accidental that Bezos has destroyed what was erstwhile 1 of America’s large newspapers.

I bring my idiosyncratic past to the table. I spent 29 years astatine the Post, moving for Bob Woodward’s investigative SWAT team, arsenic Justice Department reporter, arsenic New York bureau chief, and yet arsenic media newsman and columnist.

In the 1980s and ’90s, erstwhile newspapers truly mattered, the Post, portion lacking the resources of the New York Times, delivered scoops with an all-star team, from authorities (David Broder and Dan Balz) to sports (Tony Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon and Tom Boswell) to the metro table (Woodward and Bernstein). And determination was the freewheeling Style conception of Sally Quinn and galore different communicative writers.

Jeff Bezos, laminitis and enforcement president of Amazon and proprietor of the Washington Post, looks retired into the assemblage during the New York Times yearly DealBook acme astatine Jazz astatine Lincoln Center connected Dec. 4, 2024, successful New York City.  (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

This was the insubstantial of Watergate, helping to thrust Richard Nixon from office, aft defying his medication successful moving the Pentagon Papers, documenting the lies of the Vietnam War. It was the paper of the legendary Ben Bradlee, whose status I covered aft being secretly briefed. Despite occasional blunders (such arsenic Janet Cooke’s fraud), it was glamorized successful 2 movies (Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman successful "All the President’s Men," Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks successful "The Post"), inspiring legions of young graduates to spell into journalism.

When Bezos fired 300 journalists the different day, helium completed the question of demolition that had already near the Post a ammunition of its erstwhile self. Those dismissed included specified remaining stars arsenic Lizzie Johnson, who said she was "devastated" arsenic she reported from the Ukraine warfare portion without vigor oregon moving water. And Marty Weil, a sardonic night-shift feline who has been astatine the insubstantial for 60 years. And Sarah Ellison, an elegant writer who came from Vanity Fair. And this wrecking shot followed respective earlier rounds of layoffs. 

Bezos doesn’t care. I conscionable deliberation he’s bored with the spot helium erstwhile believed would bring him instant credibility. He’s much funny successful his rocket company. The Post is simply a blip connected his planetary radar.

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I’m not successful the campy that says Bezos should subsidize the insubstantial everlastingly conscionable due to the fact that he’s uber-rich. With the insubstantial losing $100 cardinal past year, he’s entitled to look for a way to profitability. But Bezos is getting perfectly hammered by the media. 

"We’re witnessing a murder," wrote Ashley Parker, present with the Atlantic.

Liberal commentator Charlie Sykes offered this headline: "Gutless Billionaire Guts the Post."

Former enforcement exertion Marty Baron, who antecedently ran the prize-winning Boston Globe, declared: "Bezos’ sickening efforts to curry favour with President Trump person near an particularly disfigured stain of their own. This is simply a lawsuit survey successful near-instant, self-inflicted marque destruction."

The Washington Post's gathering successful DC. The Post eliminated much than 300 jobs, laying disconnected astir 30% of its workforce. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Onetime Metro exertion David Maraniss, a a mentor to truthful galore astatine the paper, said: "He bought the Post reasoning that it would springiness him immoderate gravitas and grace that helium couldn’t get from conscionable billions of dollars, and past the satellite changed. Now I don’t deliberation helium gives a flying f***."

In fairness, galore newspapers person struggled with the illness of their concern model, arsenic classifieds and advertizing migrated online, and radical could get breaking quality from their phones oregon watches. Some converted to websites; the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is closing successful May. 

More than a 4th of American newspapers person folded successful the past 2 decades. Back successful 1981, the Washington Star, wherever I worked, was shuttered arsenic day papers became obsolete.

But the Post is simply a classical lawsuit survey of nonaccomplishment to accommodate to the integer age. Katharine Graham was skeptical erstwhile she summoned maine to explicate this emerging universe.

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In the Bezos era, the crashing waves of cutbacks meant asking readers to support paying for a merchandise that grew progressively diminished implicit time, with its prima players defecting to different large outlets. 

At first, Bezos took a hands-off approach, seemingly successful sync with the newsroom culture. During Trump’s archetypal term, helium coined the slogan "Democracy Dies successful Darkness." But determination was a drastic displacement successful 2024.

When the editorial committee drafted an endorsement of Kamala Harris, Bezos killed it, which arsenic the proprietor helium has each close to do. Had helium decided connected a non-endorsement earlier, fewer would person cared. But Bezos wielded the ax a week earlier the election, and the furor was deafening. As the Post itself reported, much than 250,000 radical canceled their subscriptions.

Four months later, Bezos decreed that the editorial pages would absorption each time connected promoting "personal liberties" and "free markets," banning immoderate effort to connection opposing views. Opinion Editor David Shipley, whose conception had won 2 Pulitzers, resigned, and different editors and columnists chopped ties with the Post.  

President Donald Trump arrives astatine a dedication ceremonial for a information of Southern Boulevard that the Town of Palm Beach Council precocious voted to rename President Donald J. Trump Boulevard astatine his Mar-a-Lago Club successful Palm Beach, Florida, Jan. 16, 2026. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

Meanwhile, the mogul socialized with the Trumps astatine Mar-a-Lago, and sat down the president astatine his 2nd inauguration.

Bezos himself, arsenic everyone knows, is present rather the jet-setter. He recovered himself successful the mediate of a tabloid ungraded erstwhile the National Enquirer published lewd texts betwixt Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, arsenic quality of his divorcement was breaking. The Enquirer besides published pictures of his genitals, which helium slammed arsenic an effort astatine blackmail. Bezos projected to Sanchez connected his 417-foot yacht, and they were joined past outpouring successful Venice, an extravaganza attended by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gayle King, Tom Brady and Kim Kardashian. The terms tag for the multi-day celebrations was determination betwixt $20 cardinal and $50 million.

For Bezos, this was fundamentally spare change. Peter Baker, a Post alumnus who is present main White House analogous astatine the Times and an MS NOW analyst, reports that Bezos’ nett worthy is up $224 cardinal since buying the Washington paper.

So wherefore does Bezos request the headache? He should unload this distressed plus to idiosyncratic who would person a caller changeable astatine resuscitating the Washington Post from its near-death experience–though successful each candor, it’s astir apt excessively late.

A time aft abolishing the Post’s sports section, CEO Will Lewis – who blew disconnected the unit telephone explaining the layoffs – was walking the reddish carpet astatine the NFL Honors successful San Francisco, an lawsuit starring up to the Super Bowl. Those who had mislaid their jobs, and their colleagues, were furious.

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Even worse, helium wouldn’t let the Post to constitute astir the sweeping layoffs. Seriously. His terse farewell enactment thanked lone Bezos.

Back successful the day, determination would person been a half-dozen stories successful the Post astir the journalistic earthquake successful its midst. But that was a agelong clip ago.