Advertisement
Canada markets open in 7 hours 14 minutes
  • S&P/TSX

    21,837.18
    -12.02 (-0.06%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,149.42
    +32.33 (+0.63%)
     
  • DOW

    38,790.43
    +75.63 (+0.20%)
     
  • CAD/USD

    0.7373
    -0.0016 (-0.22%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    82.53
    -0.19 (-0.23%)
     
  • Bitcoin CAD

    88,684.98
    -4,344.93 (-4.67%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,158.70
    -5.60 (-0.26%)
     
  • RUSSELL 2000

    2,024.74
    -14.58 (-0.72%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.3400
    0.0000 (0.00%)
     
  • NASDAQ futures

    18,183.75
    -47.75 (-0.26%)
     
  • VOLATILITY

    14.33
    -0.08 (-0.56%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,722.55
    -4.87 (-0.06%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    39,911.33
    +170.93 (+0.43%)
     
  • CAD/EUR

    0.6783
    -0.0009 (-0.13%)
     

Jeff Bezos dishes on WaPo’s 'swashbuckling' culture

Jeff Bezos is known for his visionary thinking, as well as his obsession with space and making Amazon (AMZN) the ultimate destination for the consumer. And, though he is not a journalist, he decided to explore another passion — the news business.

Bezos purchased The Washington Post in the summer of 2013 for $250 million. Speaking at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit on Thursday, he said buying the paper was a painless process, mostly because he wasn’t a difficult customer.

“That is not a myth [that I purchased the newspaper on the spot]. I did zero due diligence and I did not negotiate. I accepted the asking price,” he said.

Don Graham, the paper’s former publisher, orchestrated the sale. It couldn’t have happened that way except the person I was dealing with was Don Graham, who I’ve known for 15 years. He’s the most honorable person in the world,” Bezos said. “He laid out every single wart and every single thing that was great about The Post. No due diligence would ever uncover what Don just told me.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Last year, more people visited The Post’s website than The New York Times’ in the month of October. It was the first time that The Post topped the Times’ digital traffic.

Bezos said he’s extremely proud of where the paper stands and owes it to Marty Baron, who he describes as “the best executive editor of any paper in the world.”

Bezos said though he doesn’t spend much time in the newsroom, he can testify that the culture of the Post is unique. He had an interesting word choice to describe the typical employee: a swashbuckler.

According to Merriam-Webster, a swashbuckler is “a swaggering or daring soldierer or adventurer.”

“They’re professional swashbucklers. Without professionalism, swashbuckling gets you killed,” he said. “They have a swagger that’s very useful and lets them dig, finding stories that no one else can find.”

He added that The Post is very fortunate because it’s situated in “the capital city of the most important country in the world,” and the paper’s reporters have the contacts and privilege of being in Washington.

Bezos said he has no regrets about his decision to buy The Post.

“I’ve owned the paper for a couple of years now, and the warts are not as bad as [Don] made them out to be,” he commented. “Marty and his team have good taste. I’m incredibly lucky. We have a killer team.”

Melody Hahm is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering entrepreneurship, technology and real estate. Follow her on Twitter @melodyhahm.

Read more:

Why Didi has partnered with Apple and Uber

Uber CEO on business in China: You have to rethink everything

The No. 1 quality for an entrepreneur to have, according to VC legend Michael Moritz

Top WaPo editor reveals how Jeff Bezos changed the paper

3 tech luminaries reveal what they’d do if they had a Trump donor on their board