Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ acquisition of The Washington Post could well be a seminal moment in what cutting-edge technology innovation can bring about in the business of newspapers. If he is able to translate what he did with books on Amazon, rest assured that a brand new chapter in publishing history begins now.
Bezos brings a razor-sharp feel for business and a futuristic vision and couples this to a courage to take risks. In short, he has everything that a newspaper owner needs.
As a child, he turned his parent’s garage into a laboratory to check how things work. In 1995, it was in his garage that he started Amazon.com after he read a report that web commerce was growing at 2,300 per cent annually. By pioneering e-commerce, his success was meteoric.
In only two months, sales reached $20,000 (Dh73,460) a week, without press promotion. Now, Amazon.com sells everything worldwide and clocked more than $17 billion in sales. In 2007, he released the Kindle, a hand-held digital book reader and started selling e-books from $9.99.
Coincidentally, just days before the Bezos deal, New York Times had sold Boston Globe for $70 million to the Red Sox owner.
Some analysts have suggested that Bezos sees the newspaper as a political tool to protect Amazon’s interests in Washington. Another theory is that the investment in the newspaper brand can be a valuable asset as the business expands.
There may be many ways to try and explain it, but everybody agrees on one point. Bezos’ history of reinventing the publishing and e-commerce industries is undisputable. It is expected that he can innovate and bring fresh perspectives to a business that costs a fortune in logistics and newsprint to deliver the product. Maybe he has the answer to solve it.
