[TV orNotTV] NotTV: Bezos Buys The WaPo

[PGage]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/washington-post-to-be-sold-to-jeff-bezos/2013/08/05/ca537c9e-fe0c-11e2-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.html

Though not a TV story, I wonder what folks here think of this development (it is arguably a major event in the broader media world). In this day and age it seems rare to have a story like this take us by such surprise, though I guess it is not really surprising to see a newspaper getting sold, for a relative bargain - Bezos paid $250 million, in cash (the NYT just sold the Boston Globe for $70M, after buying it for $1.1B in 1993); his net worth is $25.2 Billion.

From my great distance it has seemed like the Post has been in decline for the last years (though to be honest that partly just means it seems to have moved to the right editorially, I have assumed to protect itself from the Moonies). I like the idea of family ownership of great newspapers, but the Grahams, even though they run the paper and have controlling interest in its parent company, do not really control it, since they run a publicly traded corporation. They answer to their shareholders, not their readers or the public interest. OTOH, Bezos now owns the paper (and a few other assets) outright, does not answer to shareholders, and the first thing he said was: "the key thing I hope people will take away from this is that the values of The Post do not need changing. The duty of the paper is to the readers, not the owners".

He will make changes no doubt, but it seems there is hope that perhaps the most internet-savvy of all living CEOs will be able to figure out a way to make a national newspaper relevant and profitable in the digital age. As the long article linked here notes, Bezos is known for his long-term thinking, and does not require immediate turnaround or profit. The article also notes that he does not have any large partisan footprint; he has donated a lot to Washington Senator Patty Murray, who is quite liberal, but has also donated significantly to the campaigns of both Democratic and Republican Senators around the country. His biggest tell I guess is the large donation he made to successful campaign to legalize gay marriage in Washington last year.

I was initially skeptical about amazon.com, and had long sympathetic talks with the owners of local independent book shops; but it did not take long for me to become a huge amazon fan. They have almost completely freed me from shopping malls (I think I have been in one only three or four times in the last four years, to either get new glasses or have my I-Mac looked at), which alone is enough to earn Bezos my undying gratitude. I do all of my Christmas and back-to-school shopping online, the great majority of it at amazon. I am a very happy (and again, originally skeptical) Kindle-user, and I have found their customer service to be unparalleled in either traditional or online retail. If Bezos can do for newspapers even a quarter of what he had done for retail, I have to think he will be a force for good.

[Bob in Jersey]

Another significant media move: the no-longer-print Newsweek over the weekend got a divorce from The Daily Beast when the latter's parent IAC unloaded the site to IBT Media... there will be a brief transition; no price given.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibt-media-to-acquire-newsweek-218235561.html

-- B.

[Diner]

On Monday, August 5, 2013 11:12:26 PM UTC-4, PGage wrote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/washington-post-to-be-sold-to-jeff-bezos/2013/08/05/ca537c9e-fe0c-11e2-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.html

Though not a TV story, I wonder what folks here think of this development (it is arguably a major event in the broader media world). In this day and age it seems rare to have a story like this take us by such surprise, though I guess it is not really surprising to see a newspaper getting sold, for a relative bargain - Bezos paid $250 million, in cash (the NYT just sold the Boston Globe for $70M, after buying it for $1.1B in 1993); his net worth is $25.2 Billion.

 

 

Jimmy Fallon had a line last night (not an exact quote): "The Boston Globe was just sold for $70 million, after having been sold in 1993 for $1.1 billion. I couldn't believe that story when I read it for free on the internet."

 

-Tim

[Joe Hass]

On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 10:12 PM, PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote (in part):

As the long article linked here notes, Bezos is known for his long-term thinking, and does not require immediate turnaround or profit.

I think I've mentioned here that I am a huge Costco fan (in addition to a shareholder). The one thing that has made me consistently nervous about their long-term prognosis is whenever the CEO or whomever talks about their relationship to Amazon, especially when it comes to fresh food. Costco has consistently said they don't believe that there's a profitable way to handle *nationwide* home delivery of grocery, especially perishables. The problem is that Amazon has never, ever cared about profit. If Amazon decided one day to create a national version of Peapod, they'd do it and keep doing it, even if they were burning cash. That's where Amazon (and Bezos) makes me (as a Costco shareholder) extremely nervous.

For the record: I do not have an Amazon Prime account, but if I moved to a location where there were no Costcos, I would have one in a heartbeat.

[PGage]

Have you seen stories like this - the're coming: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/11/business/la-fi-amazon-groceries-20130611

One reason they will be willing to deliver groceries at a loss is they see it as a way to get more people dependent on ordering stuff from the Zon.

[Joe Hass]

I have. But the fundamental challenge is that they're doing it regionally (similar to same-day delivery or next-day hand delivery) as opposed to nationally. Costco needs only to open a single store to be able to serve a small metro area. It's not a question of if they can do it in LA/NYC/Seattle. It's whether they can pull it off in Rochester/Grand Rapids/Tucson.

[PGage]

On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 1:48 PM, Joe Hass <hassg...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have. But the fundamental challenge is that they're doing it regionally (similar to same-day delivery or next-day hand delivery) as opposed to nationally. Costco needs only to open a single store to be able to serve a small metro area. It's not a question of if they can do it in LA/NYC/Seattle. It's whether they can pull it off in Rochester/Grand Rapids/Tucson.

RIght - but this is just the roll out so they can figure out the details. The WaPo stories have noted that  Bezos is no longer opposed to legislation requiring online retailers to pay state sales tax, since he now plans on having physical operations in all 50 states and would have to pay sales tax anyway. Soon enough they will have warehouses and delivery infrastructure in Grand Rapids Iowa and Rochester New York. Like I said, they are coming.

[David Bruggeman]

Maybe it's just the way this thread has gone, but to what extent has Bezos said, if at all, about how the Washington Post (be it the paper or the company) would relate to Amazon.  I kind of figured this was more along the lines of an Elon Musk SpaceX or Tesla activity - a subsequent/side project - rather than an extension of the corps business into a new thing (say Microsoft getting into gaming).

In other words, is this something Bezos wanted to do as his next big thing, or is this something he thinks makes sense in growing Amazon?  Personally I'm much more comfortable with the former rather than the latter, though I think Bezos would be willing to make the paper a loss leader under either scenario.

David

---

From: PGage <pga...@gmail.com>
To: tvor...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 5:19 PM
Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] NotTV: Bezos Buys The WaPo

On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 1:48 PM, Joe Hass <hassg...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have. But the fundamental challenge is that they're doing it regionally (similar to same-day delivery or next-day hand delivery) as opposed to nationally. Costco needs only to open a single store to be able to serve a small metro area. It's not a question of if they can do it in LA/NYC/Seattle. It's whether they can pull it off in Rochester/Grand Rapids/Tucson.

RIght - but this is just the roll out so they can figure out the details. The WaPo stories have noted that  Bezos is no longer opposed to legislation requiring online retailers to pay state sales tax, since he now plans on having physical operations in all 50 states and would have to pay sales tax anyway. Soon enough they will have warehouses and delivery infrastructure in Grand Rapids Iowa and Rochester New York. Like I said, they are coming.

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[John Edwards]

On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 5:31 PM, David Bruggeman <bru...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Maybe it's just the way this thread has gone, but to what extent has Bezos
> said, if at all, about how the Washington Post (be it the paper or the
> company) would relate to Amazon. I kind of figured this was more along the
> lines of an Elon Musk SpaceX or Tesla activity - a subsequent/side project -
> rather than an extension of the corps business into a new thing (say
> Microsoft getting into gaming).
>
> In other words, is this something Bezos wanted to do as his next big thing,
> or is this something he thinks makes sense in growing Amazon? Personally
> I'm much more comfortable with the former rather than the latter, though I
> think Bezos would be willing to make the paper a loss leader under either
> scenario.

The Post's own article
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/washington-post-to-be-sold-to-jeff-bezos/2013/08/05/ca537c9e-fe0c-11e2-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.html)
says that Bezos is buying the paper, and that Amazon "will have no
role in the purchase."

So, while the thought of "other people who viewed this page also
viewed Pages A4, B7 and C1" at the bottom of page B2 amuses me, it
doesn't look like there would necessarily be a direct connection.

John

--
John Edwards
"You can insure against the weather, but you can't insure against
incompetence, can you?" - Phil Tufnell

[PGage]

I think I mentioned originally that Bezos was buying the Post with his own personal cash. He is staying in WA, and the WaPo management will stay in place.

But that does not change who Bezos is, and how he thinks and operates, which is likely to be similar to how he has managed Amazon. I actually would not be surprised to see washingtonpost.com one day pushing readers to stories similar to, or often read by, a story just clicked on by a visitor. More importantly though, WaPo dot com may one day soon be able to charge more to online advertisers because it is able to more effectively personalize ads to readers based on a number of characteristics.

[Joe Hass]

The definitive tweet/image on the topic: http://jimromenesko.com/2013/08/05/best-tweet-and-graphic-about-jeff-bezos-buying-the-washington-post/