Mediagazer: Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post: a marriage of old media and new money (Emily Bell/Guardian)

5:00 AM ET, August 6, 2013

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Washington Post to be sold to Jeff Bezos — The Washington Post Co. has agreed to sell its flagship newspaper to Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos, ending the Graham family's stewardship of one of America's leading news organizations after four generations.

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Jeff Bezos / Washington Post:

Jeff Bezos on Post purchase — To the employees of The Washington Post: — You'll have heard the news, and many of you will greet it with a degree of apprehension. When a single family owns a company for many decades, and when that family acts for all those decades in good faith …

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

Why the Sale of the Washington Post Seems So Significant — A moment that will define an era's upheaval in journalism. — In the photo above we see Katharine Graham and Ben Bradlee walking out of the U.S. District Courthouse in Washington after their historic win in the legal battle over publishing the Pentagon Papers.

Discussion: Reinventing the Newsroom, WWD Media Headlines, @jamesfallows, Crikey, @sophblack, @sdkstl, @pkafka, FishbowlDC, Speakeasy, Forbes, @kvox, @jaredbkeller, @bobstep, GigaOM, AdAge, @dkthomp and @dangillmor

David Carr / New York Times:

The Washington Post Reaches the End of the Graham Era — In late 2012, Donald E. Graham, the chairman and chief executive of The Washington Post Company, met with the paper's publisher, Katharine Weymouth, to look at the paper's future for the next three years. Their assessment troubled them.

Discussion: @anupkaphle, @curtisbeast, @1bobcohn and @brianstelter

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

Jeff Bezos's landmark purchase of the Washington Post — We've now officially entered the Billionaire Savior phase of the newspaper collapse—for good or ill — There must be a dozen serious, fascinating implications of the jaw-dropping news that the Graham family is selling the Washington Post to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, @marcambinder, New Republic, @reckless, @delrey, @petersgoodman, @albertocairo, @stevenlevy, @nateschenkkan, GeekWire, @motokorich, LA Biz Observed, @froomkin, Forbes, @megan and @noamscheiber

Jack Shafer:

Jeff Bezos is an owner who knows how to deliver — As the American newspaper business began its red-ink slide in the late 2000s, I fully expected a billionaire to rescue the financially struggling Washington Post. But I never thought its savior would be Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who purchased the paper today for $250 million.

Discussion: Memex 1.1, Digits, Forbes, Business Insider, The Wrap and WordPress.com VIP

Emily Bell / Guardian:

Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post: a marriage of old media and new money — The Amazon billionaire's buy marks a fascinating transition as east coast influence passes to Silicon Valley entrepreneurialism — The sale of the Washington Post to Amazon founder and multibillionaire Jeff Bezos for $250m …

Discussion: metamedia, Washington Post, @paullewis, @matthewwells, @moorehn, @emilybell, @ceciliamarie, CNET, Quartz, @rosental, @hofrench, @benjaminjackson, @digiphile, TIME, Bloomberg and New Republic

John F. Harris / Politico:

What is Jeff Bezos thinking? — Within minutes of the news going public, I had an email from a recognizable byline at the Washington Post that captured my feelings exactly: “Holy. S**t.” — In the heyday of this singular American institution, those two words were the very phrase …

Discussion: Gawker, @jeffjarvis, @hale_a, @pkafka, @mlsif, @bensherwoodabc, @politico, Reuters, @jaycosttws, Business Insider and @politico

Katharine Weymouth / Washington Post:

Katharine Weymouth letter to Post readers — Dear readers: — This is a day that my family and I never expected to come. The Washington Post Company is selling the newspaper it has owned and nurtured for eight decades. — In addition to The Washington Post, the company …

Discussion: The Wrap, Reuters, Forbes, The Verge, @aloraibi, @earljwilkinson, @samsifton and Business Insider

Washington Post:

Washington Post sale: Details of Bezos deal — The purchase of The Washington Post by Jeffrey P. Bezos ends 42 years in which The Post has been part of a publicly traded company, creates a small windfall for the company's shareholders and will leave the stewardship of the newspaper in the hands of a privately held firm.

Discussion: @frucci, @hblodget, @washingtonpost, @fmanjoo, @fmanjoo and AppNewser

Jennifer Saba / Reuters:

Graham, Bezos hashed out Washington Post deal in Sun Valley — (Reuters) - Donald Graham, the chairman and CEO of The Washington Post Co, started talking to Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos less than a month before cinching a $250 million deal to sell the flagship newspaper to the tech entrepreneur.

Washington Post:

The Grahams: A family synonymous with The Post and with Washington — It began with a bankruptcy sale in 1933, when a Republican businessman and presidential confidant reinvented himself as a newspaper publisher in the nation's capital. It ended with an announcement that his descendants …

Discussion: Poynter, @themarkberman and @ceciliakang

Donald Graham / Washington Post:
Letter from Donald Graham on sale of The Post

Discussion: @brianstelter, Business Insider, @stateofnova, @jayrosen_nyu, @stateofnova, @anneapplebaum, @froomkin, Quartz, @melissabell and @ezraklein

The Wrap:
The Washington Post Sale Further Devalues Newspapers, Say Experts

Discussion: USA Today, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @gabrielsnyder and The National Memo

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:
Post Mortem: Don Graham's History Of Missed Chances

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review and The Huffington Post

Henry Blodget / Business Insider:
Here's Why I Think Jeff Bezos Bought The Washington Post

Discussion: The Switch

Peter Whoriskey / Washington Post: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos known for patience, focus on detail in his business ventures

Alex Ben Block / Hollywood Reporter:

Time Warner Cable: We'll End Blackout If We Can Offer CBS A La Carte — In a letter, TWC CEO Glenn Britt asks to resume negotiations immediately, and wants the network to stop blocking CBS.com content from its broadband customers. — Time Warner Cable's CEO Glenn Britt on Monday sent …