'People there are terrible': Bezos told Trump WaPo was his worst investment before newsroom overhaul
WASHINGTON, DC: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos privately called the Washington Post his “worst investment” and complained that its employees were “terrible” months before he ordered sweeping cuts that reshaped the newspaper, according to a new book.
The remarks offer a glimpse into the supposed frustrations Bezos held long before the newsroom overhaul. They also shed new light on the thinking that preceded layoffs and major changes at the paper.
Jeff Bezos told Trump Washington Post staff 'don’t listen'
According to an excerpt from ‘Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump’ by New York Times journalists Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, Bezos made the comments during a December 2024 dinner with President Donald Trump.
“The people there are terrible,” Bezos told Trump, according to the book. “They don’t listen. My other companies, they listen.”
The authors wrote that Bezos directed much of his frustration at the business side of the newspaper after losing more than $100 million that year, as per the New York Post.
The conversation took place roughly two months before Bezos ordered a major shift in the paper's opinion section.
He instructed opinion pages to promote “two pillars: personal liberties and free markets” as the publication faced subscriber backlash after withholding an endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Trump told Jeff Bezos he got to 'take better care' of Washington Post
According to the report, the book portrays Bezos' comments as part of a broader effort by major technology executives to build ties with the incoming president.
Trump also used the dinner to criticize the newspaper's coverage.
“This Washington Post is really unfair. You’ve got to take better care,” the president told Bezos, according to the book.
Swan and Haberman wrote that “Bezos commiserated with Trump over their December dinner, indicating that he, too, was deeply frustrated with the Washington Post, though for a different reason.”
The authors added that Trump believed Bezos told him he had “lost half his friends” because of his ownership of the newspaper.
“In Trump’s telling, Bezos told him he had lost half his friends over the investment,” they wrote. “Bezos would tell others that wasn’t quite right: He hadn’t lost friends, but people close to him had urged him to sell the newspaper.”
Newsroom overhaul followed conversation with Trump
The comments preceded one of the most dramatic restructuring efforts in the paper's recent history.
This February, Bezos authorized a sweeping downsizing that eliminated roughly one-third of the workforce, including the sports department and all staff photographers.
Trump told the authors that he had once blamed Bezos for the newspaper's coverage during his first term.
“He said they write stories about him. And I didn’t believe him the first time, first term. And I hated him for it,” Trump recalled. “And then I believed him.”
The paper has continued to undergo leadership changes. Former publisher and CEO Will Lewis, who had been paid a $3 million salary by Bezos, was removed shortly after this year's mass layoffs.
Jeff D’Onofrio, who replaced Lewis in an acting capacity, recently said he is “going to fight like hell for this institution” and has approved new revenue deals involving OpenAI, Apple News+, and Alexa+.
