Courtesy of Pam Martens.
Jeffrey Bezos, Billionaire Buyer of the Washington Post for $250 Million in Cash
It’s only Wednesday and two major American newspapers, in separate transactions, have been purchased for cash by billionaires – in a fashion reminiscent of how they might shop for a bauble at Cartier.
On Saturday, John Henry, hedge fund trader turned owner of the Boston Red Sox, bought the Boston Globe from the New York Times for $70 million in cash. Forbes puts Henry’s net worth at $1.5 billion as of March of this year.
On Monday came the news that Jeffrey Bezos, CEO of online retailer Amazon.com, is purchasing the Washington Post for $250 million in cash. Forbes puts Bezos’ net worth at $25.2 billion as of March.
Included in the Washington Post deal is the Post’s web site, the Express newspaper, Gazette Newspapers, Southern Maryland Newspapers, Fairfax County Times, the Spanish-language newspaper El Tiempo Latino as well as a production and printing plant. The Post’s real estate is not included.
Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously said, “We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
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