Tech
The Everything Store, 2013, and its just-published sequel
Amazon Unbound), is an old friend. When Bezos was just a smart, driven business nerd who sold books online, Brad and I would interview him for
Newsweek and
Time respectively. Fuller disclosure: I m the guy who nominated the bookselling nerd for
Time Person of the Year. Fullest disclosure: I own an anti-Amazon T-shirt made by the HQ2 protestors in Queens ( resist, it says above a smile logo), and also own an Amazon Echo, Kindle, and Prime account.
Our relationship with Amazon is as complicated as the company itself. On the one hand, Bezos is an innovator, a genius, a customer-focused obsessive; on the other, anti-union, proto-monopolist, pitiless kingpin who had to be dragged into philanthropy. But in the last four years, the hero side has receded and the villain come to the fore. So it s a comfort to read
Full disclosure: Brad Stone, author of the definitive books on Jeff Bezos company (
The Everything Store, 2013, and its just-published sequel
Amazon Unbound), is an old friend. When Bezos was just a smart, driven business nerd who sold books online, Brad and I would interview him for
Newsweek and
Time respectively. Fuller disclosure: I m the guy who nominated the bookselling nerd for
Time Person of the Year. Fullest disclosure: I own an anti-Amazon T-shirt made by the HQ2 protestors in Queens ( resist, it says above a smile logo), and also own an Amazon Echo, Kindle, and Prime account.Â
Our relationship with Amazon is as complicated as the company itself. On the one hand, Bezos is an innovator, a genius, a customer-focused obsessive; on the other, anti-union, proto-monopolist, pitiless kingpin who had to be dragged into philanthropy. But in the last four years, the hero side has receded and the villain come to the fore. So it s a comfort to read
Why Jeff Bezos Should Rescue Tribune s Newspapers From Alden Global Capital
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos attends the premiere of The Post at The Newseum, in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 14, 2017.
Brent N. Clarke/Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP
It’s going to take a miracle to save the Chicago Tribune, the Hartford Courant, New York’s Daily News and six other large-market dailies from the greedy clutches of Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund that’s widely regarded as the worst newspaper owner in the country.
On May 21, Tribune Publishing’s board is
scheduled to vote on selling its papers. At this point, it looks like the only viable bid is from Alden, which has offered $635 million to boost its share of the company from 32% to 100%. A competing bid from the Baltimore hotel magnate Stewart Bainum was dealt a huge setback recently when his partner, the Swiss philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss, pulled out. Bainum, who wants to acquire Tribune’s Baltimore Sun and turn it over to a nonpro