Jeff Bezos and the future of WaPo:
“The success of Amazon has been hugely disruptive to multiple industries, from books to retail to streaming video, and Bezos has been at the helm of that,” said Clark Fredricksen, a vice president at eMarketer. “Bezos knows a thing or two about selling things online; that is a definite potential new outlet for the Post and the industry.”
To truly capitalize on either the e-commerce or digital data-mining potential of the Post under Mr. Bezos, experts agreed, the paper will likely have to become more of a national platform. For years, the Post has felt a dissonance between its international fame as a Watergate-era icon and its largely local advertising base.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bezos increase the paper’s national presence through Amazon Prime, plus custom apps for Kindle, Android, and iOS. Amazon keeps adding extra features and value to that same $80 annual subscription, and even though WaPo isn’t part of Amazon, I’m sure they could work something out. The next step is localization, no matter where you might be, because that’s really where Bezos has his magic touch.
What remains to be seen is if Bezos can restore some profitability, which hasn’t exactly been his strong suit.
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