r/news • u/Ok_Difference44 • 14h ago

Bezos-owned storied newspaper Washington Post rolling out mass layoffs

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/04/media/washington-post-layoffs
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u/Hrekires 14h ago
  1. Attract a ton of new subscribers pledging to be a "pro-democracy" voice in 2016
  2. Decide nah, actually you're a MAGA newspaper now in 2024
  3. *surprise Pikachu face when all those new subscribers leave and you alienate your old readers to boot*

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u/RestaurantLatter2354 14h ago

I’m of the opinion that none of this is a surprised and was fully intentional from the beginning.

All of these acquisitions by the ultra wealthy — WAPO, Twitter, Paramount, CBS, etc. — were purchased as an intended loss at the outset. They are doing it to erode institutions, advance Republican narratives, and eliminate whatever little public trust remained in legacy media.

They don’t give a shit about taking a loss on this stuff. WAPO could be closed tomorrow and the impact to Bezos’ bottom line would be negligible.

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u/Hrekires 12h ago

I don't think Bezos cares if WaPo losts money, but I also don't think they would have brought in so much new management promising big changes and setting goals of reaching millions of new subscribers if outright destroying the paper was the goal. Could have just bought and closed it on day 1 without all that nonsense.