Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos gave his first interview to the Washington Post since purchasing the paper for $250 million, saying he’d apply his same philosophy for running Amazon to the newspaper while suggesting he’d take a hands-off approach to running the business.
“We’ve had three big ideas at Amazon that we’ve stuck with for 18 years, and they’re the reason we’re successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient,” Bezos told the Post in an interview published Tuesday. “If you replace ‘customer’ with ‘reader,’ that approach, that point of view, can be successful at The Post, too.”
He said his most significant contributions would be his “point of view” and financial support over the long term, allowing the newsroom to find a model that will make the Post profitable.
“If we figure out a new golden era at The Post . . . that will be due to the ingenuity and inventiveness and experimentation of the team at The Post,” he said. “I’ll be there with advice from a distance. If we solve that problem, I won’t deserve credit for it.”
