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On his way to Seattle in 1994 to launch the company he would call Amazon, Jeff Bezos stopped off at the Washington Post.
In a biographical introduction to Invent and Wander, a book of Bezos’s collected writings, Walter Isaacson wrote this about Bezos’s encounter with Craig Stoltz, who ran a technology magazine at the newspaper:
“He was short with an uncomfortable smile, thinning hair, and a somehow febrile affect,” Stoltz wrote later in a blog post. Totally unimpressed, Stoltz blew him off and declined to write a story about the idea. Years later, long after Stoltz left the paper, Bezos would end up buying it.
Jeff Bezos has come a long way. But today, his Washington Post by any measure is in a crisis of leadership and staff morale, with a business model that is not working. I worked at the Post for eighteen years when Katharine Graham was the owner and Benjamin C. Bradlee was the executive editor. I have been gone for decades but still associate myself with the institution, its values, and its impact.
In an interview at the recent New York Times DealBook Summit, Bezos told Andrew Ross Sorkin, “We saved the Washington Post once, and we’re going to save it a second time.” I take Bezos at his word. I was the publisher of Invent and Wander, the title Bezos chose for the book. He was a busy man, but when he turned his attention to our book, it was impressive. He signed off on the book’s title, cover design, and every word, including Isaacson’s introduction. And the book, copublished with the Harvard Business Review Press, sold well, especially overseas. In an inscription in my copy, he praised our “execution” of the project.
With that in mind, here are some thoughts on what Bezos might consider doing to “save” the Post again.
Step One: Make an unequivocal declaration that he does not intend to sell the Post. As a financial issue for a man of his wealth and other investments, the Post is a minor matter. Bezos has an evident passion for Blue Origin, his space company; a fascination with the potential of AI; and a reinvented personal life with his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez. His stewardship of the Post is, in his words, just a “complexifier,” for the paper and for him.
So, make his commitment unequivocal.
Step Two: Repeat with clarity his pledge not to interfere in news coverage, which he has not done in his eleven years of ownership. A newspaper’s owner does have a right to set the editorial stance of the publication. His decision not to endorse a presidential candidate in 2024 was timed badly but was within his rights.
Step Three: With a minimum of fanfare, choose a group of advisers, combining top-tier experience in journalism and proven skills on the business side of media. I have names in mind but will not mention them publicly, because the choices have to be Bezos’s alone.
Step Four: Ask each of them to write a short strategic memorandum—Bezos likes them to be six pages—and then convene the advisers to discuss their contents. Bezos’s preference is for “messy meetings” in which he speaks last. Use that approach.
Step Five: Don’t homogenize the ideas. Consensus is not the solution. Decide on a strategy. Begin to implement the decisions, being realistic about the time frame and what they will cost.
Step Six: Find the publisher and top editors who will understand the challenge and hire them. Bezos has provided successful leadership at Amazon and Blue Origin. Respect the culture of news media, where integrity and independence of mind are essential.
Now I’m going to share what may seem a surprising recommendation.
Arthur Sulzberger Jr. was the publisher of the New York Times for a quarter of a century. His son now has the job. Arthur, a friend of mine, is no longer involved. Over the years he made two decisions that have had a major impact on turning the Times around—at its worst, the situation there was terrible.
When the print newspaper was still the driving revenue source for advertising, Sulzberger made the daily paper truly available everywhere the morning it appeared, through home delivery or on newsstands.
The impact was significant. In Chicago, for example, where I knew a number of people with clout, they subscribed to the Times—and demeaned the hometown papers enough to undermine their status. “I don’t need the Tribune anymore, I get the important news in the Times,” was the refrain.
The print paper no longer counts as it once did. Digital subscriptions—for which millions of people around the world pay—are the business model, along with the add-ons of games, cooking, and sports. To establish a paywall in 2011, as I understand it, Sulzberger did so against the advice of some senior managers with specific responsibility for technology.
My guess is that there will be quibbles over the details of this scenario, but I am confident that the basic narrative is correct. Ultimately, one person has to render a final judgment. I know that this is Bezos’s style of leadership.
Whatever else may be said about Jeff Bezos, he created from scratch one of the most important enterprises in American history—comparable to the achievements of Henry Ford or Thomas Edison. If he puts his mind to it—and the best minds of others—this fraught period at the Washington Post will be part of its history and not the path to its extinction.
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