Bezos shifts from passive owner to active shaper at Washington Post amid its ‘identity crisis'

Geek Wire

12-05-2025

Jeff Bezos spoke in New York City on Sept. 20, 2021 to announce $1 billion in grants from the Bezos Earth Fund. (Bezos Earth Fund Photo)
A detailed report from The New Yorker reveals how Jeff Bezos has evolved since buying the The Washington Post — which is going through an 'identity crisis' as the Amazon founder gets more involved with the storied newspaper.
The article details the cultural, editorial, and strategic upheaval at the Post under the ownership of Bezos, who bought the paper for $250 million in 2013. The billionaire's recent leadership appointments, including tapping Will Lewis as publisher, has caused newsroom unrest. Dozens of staffers — including Pulitzer Prize winners — have since left the Post.
Bezos was initially a distant but supportive owner, though he's been more involved — and controversial — during the second Trump administration.
'In some ways, this is all a story about Jeff and how he changed over the course of his ownership and really became a different person with huge implications for the institution,' a former top Post editor told The New Yorker.
Bezos clashed with Trump in his first presidential term. Trump accused Bezos of using the paper as a 'tax shelter.' Amazon in 2019 lost a $10 billion cloud computing deal with the Pentagon.
But since the November election, Bezos has joined other tech leaders in expressing a willingness to work with the administration. Bezos was among those who attended the presidential inauguration.
Meanwhile, Bezos told Post employees in February that the opinion section would now focus on supporting and defending what he called 'two pillars' — personal liberties and free markets. The move led to the resignation of David Shipley, the Post's opinion editor.
That action came in the wake of Bezos' decision last fall to end the newspaper's tradition of endorsing candidates for president — including a reported spiking of the Post's endorsement of Kamala Harris.
The New Yorker story also notes how Bezos' broader business interests have influenced his stewardship of the Post.
A report last month about Amazon's apparent plan to show consumers tariff-related costs drew sharp criticism from the White House.
Amazon pushed back on the report, and said the plan 'was never approved and is not going to happen.' Trump reportedly called Bezos about the report, and later said that 'Jeff Bezos was very nice. He was terrific. He solved the problem very quickly. And he did the right thing. [He's] a good guy.'
The New Yorker story notes how Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sánchez dined with the president and Melania Trump in December. Two weeks later, Amazon licensed a documentary project about the First Lady — 'nearly three times more than the company had ever spent on a documentary.'
Read the full New Yorker story here.