Q: I just read where Amazon founder Jeff Bezos now owns the Washington Post. From whom and when did he buy it? How much was paid for it?
—Lance DeLoach, Thomaston
A: Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos acquired the Washington Post and affiliated publications in 2013 for $250 million, according to a Post article at the time announcing the sale.
Bezos, who this month topped the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as the richest person in history with a personal wealth of $110 billion, reportedly paid for the newspaper in cash. Washington Post Co. Chairman and CEO Donald E. Graham turned over the newspaper that four generations of his family had controlled for 80 years.
Bezos officially took control in October 2013, when the sale was completed and ownership of the paper was transferred from the Washington Post Co., which still maintains other businesses and was later renamed Graham Holdings Co., to Bezos’ private investment company, Nash Holdings.
In October 2017, Fortune magazine reported, “The Washington Post is on track for its second profitable year in a row in 2017 after ‘many years’ of losing money, thanks in large part to new online-only subscribers, which surpassed one million in the past few months, (Post Executive Editor Marty) Baron said. He quoted Bezos’ credo that now guides the paper’s mission: ‘Be riveting, be right and make people pay.’”
Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
About the Author
