Jeff Bezos’ plans for The Post? To focus on readers and let it experiment

Wondering why a man who made his fortune by starting one of the world’s biggest online stores would buy a newspaper? You’re not alone. Exactly what Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to do once his purchase of the Washington Post goes through is still mostly a mystery, although he seems to be starting to share some insight now.

In an interview with the publication he’s buying, Bezos suggested that he’s planning on bringing the same philosophy that has served him well at Amazon to the newspaper 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,” he said. “If you replace ‘customer’ with ‘reader,’ that approach, that point of view, can be successful at The Post, too.”

When his US$250-million purchase of the ailing newspaper was announced, Bezos said he would not be leaving his day job to focus on the news business, but he will have some input at the paper. His main aim seems to involve sharing his “point of view” in strategic discussions with The Post’s leadership about the future of the publication in the internet age.

He is also going to provide the publication with some “runway” — essentially, continued financial support while they experiment to find out what works and what doesn’t in the age of slashed deadlines and financial uncertainty. While newspapers across the world are shutting their doors, Bezos seems to be offering The Post an opportunity to try to innovate while receiving the monetary backing it needs — at least in the short-term.

“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 told the paper. “I’ll be there with advice from a distance. If we solve that problem, I won’t deserve credit for it. I’m a genetic optimist. I’ve been told, ‘Jeff, you’re fooling yourself; the problem is unsolvable.’ But I don’t think so. It just takes a lot of time, patience and experimentation.”