Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos could have interesting investment plans for the future: selling the Washington Post to buy the Commanders.
The New York Post reported an explosive story on Monday, claiming that multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos might be interested in selling the Washington Post. Instead, claim the sources cited by the report, he’d take on a NFL team.
Jeff Bezos has been the world’s richest man for a while, before sliding in the fourth position with a “mere” $120 billion in net worth. He is the founder of Amazon, the online retail company worth almost a trillion dollars.
He is also the happy owner of a newspaper. One of the most important newspapers in the world, in fact: the Washington Post. He acquired the outlet back in 2013, when the Post was going through financial hardship.
He claims to have saved the Washington Post, though he “never dreamt” of owning a newspaper.
Indeed, many criticized his ownership of the Post, accusing Bezos of using the newspaper for his political needs. In fairness, the Post has always been a strongly libertarian source, so it’s not clear whether the wizard chose the wand or vice-versa.
Last week, Jeff Bezos was seen at the Post’s headquarters in Washington, sparking fears of lay-offs like it happened in other Bezos’ owned companies.
Instead, he might have been there for different reasons…
Jeff Bezos’ possible purchase of the Commanders
According to New York Post’s sources, there is a good chance Jeff Bezos might sell the newspaper to acquire the Commanders NFL team.
The Commanders are a problematic company of their own. His current owner, Dan Snyder, is being accused of sexual harassment along with most of the executive team.
Possible acquirers of the Washington Post are certainly out there, including former NYC mayor and media tycoon Michael Bloomberg. Outside of these rumors, however, there is nothing certain.
Jeff Bezos himself denied these claims, saying that he was not interested in neither selling the Post nor buying the Commanders. He did not hire an investment banker to start a bid for the Post.
Furthermore, it seems that Dan Snyder might not be interested in selling the Commanders either. “Not only was I told Bezos didn’t submit a bid, I’ve had people tell me the Snyder family has absolutely no interest in selling to Bezos,” tweeted NBC Sports correspondent JP Finlay.
Dan Froomkin, Press Watch editor, said that he could “easily imagine better owners for the Washington Post than Jeff Bezos”. “I can even more easily imagine worse owners for the Post,” he added “and that would be a national and journalistic tragedy”.
