Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Amazon - "this is day 1 for the Internet"

The shock purchase of the Washington Post news paper by Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos caught everyone by surprise, even journalists at the Washington Post! The Washington Post has been owned by the Graham family for decades and they've maintained the Post's editorial independence and indirectly been responsible for some of the US's best journalism; such as the infamous Watergate scandal. many pundits have been quick to see this is the death of a venerable institution but I'm not so sure. Amazon has a strong interest in digital media - it has started producing its own TV content, and it distributes music and movies, as well as books and magazines via the its Kindle platform. Would you be more likely to buy a Kindle if the Washington Post came bundled with it? Some people certainly would. The Post lost $50 million last year, and despite Amazon's vast turnover it barely turned a profit. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for this newspaper.

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