Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post [Blast From the Past]

This podcast was the brainchild of Deborah, my lovely wife,

back in 2013, and it was originally recorded via Google Hangouts back when

she was affectionately referred to as the industry as the hangout queen.

Frequent guests during our first season included Charles T.

Harper.

Of Gain mind share.

He is also the co-host of Marketing Momentum with Charles and Deborah.

Next level Success was produced by Seaside Records.

Why would somebody with, with that much money to

spend by the Washington Post?

That's just a question.

I, I mean, if I, if I was, you know, going to, if I had that much money to spend

and I was gonna spend it on something, I personally wouldn't buy a newspaper.

. Charles T. Harper: Yeah.

I, I mean, you know, everybody's kind of given

Newspapers, the death sentence, obviously.

Um, they, they, they've obviously got an online presence, but, you know,

they still got to me, they've got these, they seem like their, their

assets gotta be the journalists, right?

So, I mean, the brand doesn't mean anything, I don't think

as much as it does anymore.

And maybe if it does.

I think all that went out the window, you know when, when he bought it.

But they've still got these, these really incredibly talented

long time journalists that can go out and put something together.

Now, I guess the question to me is whether or not they're gonna

be able to put something together.

And people really wanna read, you know, in other venues, other than the

ones they've been, they've been doing

well.

I see a quote here, uh, from the LA Times on this story, and, and it says, uh,

for too long we've had the technologists sitting in one room and the journalists

were sitting in the other room, and each one sees the other as the bad guy.

And they're, they're saying that we need to get both of these groups in

the same room and working together.

So with what you're saying about, um.

You know, people will call him the newspaper, a dying arc.

Maybe.

Maybe he's trying to fix it to where technology and journalism

can, can work hand in hand,

. Deborah E: But, you know, 250 million, how much is this gentleman worth?

Because maybe 250 million is just a spit in the bucket and it's,

it's a hobby and it's a dream that maybe he had all his life.

I, I, I think that if he was gonna spend that much money,

he probably has more to spare.

Jeff Bezos net worth is $25.2 billion.

He's number 19.

Oh, then 250 million that just Yeah, it's just jumped me.

, Charles T. Harper: obviously the, the, the Washington Post.

. Is international, and part of what I'm hoping that he's seeing is the

opportunity that I sort of intuitively think is there, even in a small town

like Harrisburg, that there's something going on on the local level that

There's gotta be revenue there that is too small for a paper

like the Washington Post.

Too small for these, these, these, uh, operations where they've got

all these people, they gotta pay buildings they gotta pay for, right?

But, but enough.

For somebody who's got a studio in their basement who can cover a niche, maybe

that revenue and that opportunity is still there for somebody who's willing to kind

of take the whole blogging model or, you know, in your case, Debra, the, the, the

show model and then kind of target it.

They're in, you know, their local area.

I mean, I know there's,

do you think that being who he is, do you think that will

draw more advertisers and drama?

Because they'll look at it and say, wow, look what he did with this.

Oh, yeah.

Book store.

They're just gonna like, Hey, I wanna be a part of this.

Whatever it is, we don't know, but we wanna be a part

of it because of who he is.

Oh, most definitely.

I, I think so.

What do you think Charles?

Charles T. Harper: Well, I think, I think it's almost got to that the name's gonna,

the name's gonna draw, but then he's also got, I mean, he's got this huge.

Distribution network through Amazon, right?

Yeah.

So even if he decided to, to, to, to take, even if he decided

to deliver the newspaper, right?

Even if he decided to keep the print copy and deliver that print

newspaper, goodness gracious, um, he could probably deliver that paper.

To people who want it in these other cities, right?

Um, through that whole distribution network that they have going on

somehow or another, um, through Amazon.

But then also, um, I gotta believe they gotta be able to raise the

level of that product to whatever it is that they were putting out.

It might've been cool for the people in Washington, but I got.

I believe they gotta do something to the actual product because I, I don't,

I don't read the Washington Post.

And I guess if you're not really into politics, maybe, or you're not from

Washington, you're not reading it.

I, I, I don't know.

Do do you guys read the Washington Post

I don't.

I read the LA Times . If anything it's la Do you think they're

going for almost a global, I mean, if you, I'm, I'm trying to think global here.

If you're looking at the country.

Even though New York, Los Angeles, you know, different cities like that

may be major cities, aren't you gonna kind of look at that Washington area

to be representative of the country of the United States as far as news?

So is it possible, it's looking at a, a global type thing where maybe people

would want it electronically delivered?

Other countries.

That's a good point.

Um, that, and is this guy, is he planning on running for some

type of office with doing this?

Mm,

there's all kinds of different scenarios you can run,

uh, with, because like you said, the Washington Post is, you know, United

States, uh, what do you call it, the.

Referral, whatever you wanna call

That brings us to the end of this episode of

Next Level Success Round Table.

We appreciate and value your insights and hope to apply them in our own lives,

both personally and professionally.

As always, thanks for listening to Next Level Success Roundtable, where your

thoughts and contributions are shared around the table and around the world.