WASHINGTON — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos referred to as the Washington Publish his worst funding in a dialog with President Trump months earlier than gutting the newsroom, based on a brand new e book by New York Occasions journalists Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman.
“The folks there are horrible,” Bezos informed Trump over dinner in December 2024, based on an excerpt obtained by The Publish forward of the June 23 launch of “Regime Change: Contained in the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.“
“They don’t hear. My different firms, they hear,” Bezos stated, focusing his ire on the enterprise facet of the publication after dropping greater than $100 million that yr.
About two months after the dinner, Bezos ordered the Washington Publish’s opinion pages to advertise “two pillars: private liberties and free markets” — as subscribers peeled off in protest of the paper withholding its endorsement from Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Bezos this February licensed the sweeping downsizing of the celebrated Watergate paper, eliminating roughly a 3rd of its workforce, together with all employees photographers and the sports activities part.
Bezos’ candor with Trump was described by Swan and Haberman as half of a bigger effort by Huge Tech titans to cozy up with the incoming president, who had spent his 4 years in political exile trashing what he considered as bias by information shops and main web platforms.
Trump informed Bezos “this Washington Publish is actually unfair. You’ve received to take higher care,” the e book says.
“Bezos commiserated with Trump over their December dinner, indicating that he, too, was deeply annoyed with the Publish, although for a distinct purpose.”
“In Trump’s telling, Bezos informed him he had misplaced half his associates over the funding,” the authors write. “Bezos would inform others that wasn’t fairly proper: He hadn’t misplaced associates, however folks near him had urged him to promote the newspaper.”
Trump stated in an interview for the e book that he “hated” Bezos throughout his first time period below the mistaken perception that the billionaire managed what the newspaper wrote.
“He stated they write tales about him. And I didn’t consider him the primary time, first time period. And I hated him for it,” Trump recalled. “After which I believed him.”
A Washington Publish spokesperson declined to remark.
It’s unclear how Bezos at the moment views the Publish. The paper’s former writer and CEO, Will Lewis — whom Bezos paid a $3 million wage — was tossed out shortly after this yr’s mass firings for partying on the Tremendous Bowl, sparking a firestorm of criticism over the tone-deaf optics.
Earlier than the large-scale downsizing, the Publish had in January 2025 eradicated 4% of its employees centered on the promoting division.
Jeff D’Onofrio, who previously labored at CafeMedia and Tumblr, has changed Lewis in an performing capability and stated he’s “going to combat like hell for this establishment” and just lately has authorized new content material and licensing offers to usher in income from OpenAI, Apple Information+ and Alexa+.
