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| Donald E. Graham |
The Washington Post Co. agreed Monday 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.
Bezos, whose entrepreneurship has made him one of the
world’s richest men, will pay $250 million in cash for The Post and affiliated
publications to The Washington Post Co. , which
owns the newspaper and other businesses.
Seattle-based Amazon will have no role in the purchase;
Bezos himself will buy the news organization and become its sole owner when the
sale is completed, probably within 60 days. The Post Co. will get a new, still
undecided name and continue as a publicly traded company without the newspaper.
The deal represents a sudden and stunning turn of events for
The Post, Washington ’s
leading newspaper for decades and a powerful force in shaping the nation’s
politics and policy.
Post Co. chairman and chief executive Donald E. Graham and
Post publisher Katharine Weymouth, his niece, broke the news of the sale to a
packed meeting of employees at the company’s headquarters in downtown Washington on Monday.
The mood was hushed; several veteran employees cried.
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