The iconic Grahams are done. Finished. The beloved WaPo comes into the hands of one of the most innovative minds [Bezos] who has hired ]and hired away from big 5 publishing and elsewhere] many of the most innovative and knowing minds in the ‘digital shopping and digital delivery’ world.
WaPo will be under the guidance of what/whom I see as both charmingly-disarming and destructive [of ‘the old ways’] — ‘a new iconic’ idea-maker, who has, amongst other things {Amazon is not buying WaPo, Bezos personally, is the buyer], brought books to the doors of children who live miles away from libraries and have no bricks and mortar bookstores at all, ways and means in books and supplies to growers of good food, and so many other sudden doorways cut through such thick isolating ‘for commerce control by the few only’ walls, for so many, including those housebound, and anyone, good or not so good, who wants to learn just about anything… to just go look at the bounty, click a button, pay for it… and soon comes the cardboard box from Amazon, bearing what used to take weeks, months to arrive– or was not even within reach to order to begin with.
So interesting to see what Bezos, or as we sometimes call him here, The Great Zos, will do with WaPo. To some it will seem a little like Barnum buying the Metropolitan Opera, or worse. But, I think, it is more like the Future shepherding the Past into the here and now. Wapo has a venerable staff of investigative and proven warriors. Iconic in themselves. Blended family now on horizon. We shall see.
Read more from the horse’s mouth, the WaPo article itself…
UPDATE: To see what media blogs are writing GO HERE. For news blogs’ thoughts GO HERE.
SOME TWEETS:
Jeff Bezos just bought the Washington Post for $250 million, furthering his quest for world domination. http://t.co/wQSEolsq8W
— Fast Company (@FastCompany) August 5, 2013
Jeff Bezos's letter to Washington Post employees http://t.co/kybG7Ra8DW
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 5, 2013
My brain just exploded: Washington Post to be sold to Jeff Bezos http://t.co/uTbO5f7kOy
— Dan Froomkin (@froomkin) August 5, 2013
Washington Post Co. up nearly 2% after-hours following the announcement Jeff Bezos would purchase the company. http://t.co/thNqJiFxsY $WPO
— CNBC (@CNBC) August 5, 2013
And so newspapers begin to return to their natural state: in the hands of billionaire industrialists. Colonel McCormick would be proud.
— dan sinker (@dansinker) August 5, 2013
If Jeff Bezos runs the Post the way he runs Amazon, it’ll be great news for journalism: http://t.co/zziTxpJeIT
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) August 5, 2013
So will it be called The Amazon Post?
— Mo Rocca (@MoRocca) August 5, 2013
Whoa…Amazon founder Jeff Bezos purchases @washingtonpost Post. I wonder if the Post will now be distributed from fulfillment centers.
— Major Garrett (@MajorCBS) August 5, 2013
WaPo on sale: "The purchaser is an entity that belongs to Mr. Bezos in his individual capacity and is not http://t.co/UUW7qC2POq, Inc."
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) August 5, 2013