Bezos Critiques Washington Post in Dinner with Trump

In a private dinner just before taking charge of the newsroom, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, labeled the Washington Post as the poorest investment of his career during a conversation with President Donald Trump.

The New York Post reported that this interaction occurred at a December 2024 dinner party. Bezos expressed his frustrations about the publication’s leadership to Trump, stating, “The people there are terrible.” He complained that the management didn’t heed his suggestions, contrasting his experience with his other businesses by emphasizing, “They don’t listen. My other companies listen.”

Financial challenges at the Washington Post have been notable, especially with the paper losing over $100 million in 2024, which certainly heightened Bezos’s concerns regarding the business side of the operation.

During this same dinner, Trump shared his own grievances about the paper, remarking on its unfair coverage and suggesting that Bezos should take more caution in his approach. Despite their differing issues, it seems both found common ground in their discontent with the Washington Post.

Further insights emerged through the conversation shared by reporters Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman in their upcoming book, *Regime Change: Inside the Presidential Empire of Donald Trump*. According to the New York Post, Bezos mentioned feeling isolated due to his investments, claiming he lost many friends through the process—though he later contested this idea, arguing it was more about pressures leading him to sell rather than friendships eroding.

Trump acknowledged a past disdain for Bezos due to unfavorable reporting, admitting, “He said they were writing about me… I hated him for it.” But it seems this sentiment shifted over time as the two discussed their grievances.

This dinner occurred after the Washington Post chose not to support Trump in the 2024 election, a decision Bezos defended in an October opinion piece, stating, “The president’s support does nothing to tip the scales of the election.” The publication’s internal changes continued with the resignation of Opinion editor David Shipley following some directional shifts under Bezos’s influence.

As reported by NPR, in February, about a third of the staff faced layoffs, leading to the closure of operations by publisher Will Lewis shortly after. Currently, the paper is under the leadership of Acting Chief Jeff D’Onofrio, a former executive from Tumblr and Google.