Yesterday, the Washington Post (the oldest periodic publication in D.C.) reported that Amazon's founder and CEO Jeff Bezos was buying the flagship newspaper and other properties for $250 million.
Oh, boy, this makes me laugh so hard!
Not because the newspaper famous for its almost exclusive focus on the national politics is now owned by a person, whose political stance is not very clear: all we know for a fact is that he is a strong supporter of gay marriage (who in the entertainment distribution isn't, especially in Seattle?) and the Internet sales tax (because it will wipe out his small-size competition in the online consumer-goods marketplace). After all, his first priority has always been the expansion of his business, and this might be a good complement to his empire.
These news make me laugh, because I still remember how I was one of the first people I knew to set up an account with young Amazon in 1995. I can recall everyone telling me that I shouldn't rely too much on them, because "the logistics" will never work. And I will never forget how the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times both predicted Amazon's doom in the late 90s (it already went public by then), because the company was in red year after year.
Guess what, it still posts losses ($39 million in 2012), but nobody seems to be concerned anymore. It's a conglomerate that owns 17 brands, including Amazon itself, which became a global source of… pretty much everything. Most importantly it made Jeff Bezos a billionaire ($25 billion evaluation as of this year), who doesn't mind dropping a mere 1% of his wealth to buy himself a "little rag" like Washington Post. It's like if you decided to take $5K out of your $500K (if you are lucky) savings and treat yourself to a nice weekend in Paris. Not a big deal!
The Frustrated CFO 