Bezos takes page from Amazon to push WaPost to future

Under new owner Jeff Bezos, The Washington Post is no longer just a newspaper. It's reinventing itself as a "media and technology company" that hopes to blaze a trail for newsrooms struggling to transition to a digital era.

The transformation may not be apparent on the surface, but the Internet billionaire has ripped up and revamped the technology underpinnings at the Post since buying the storied daily in 2013, while investing in the newsroom with more journalists, video offerings and tools for digital storytelling.

In a symbolic step, Bezos was present at Thursday's dedication of the new tech-rich Post headquarters, a few blocks from the musty 1970s building that is being razed.

"I am a huge fan of leaning into the future," said Bezos, the founder of online giant Amazon who snapped up the struggling newspaper for $250 million in personal funds.

Some of his efforts appear to be paying off. The Post last year overtook The New York Times in digital visitors, claiming 76 million unique users in December, according to research firm comScore.

That appeared to put it on track toward Bezos's goal of becoming a new "newspaper of record," an open challenge to its New York rival.

The growth comes from upgrading all facets of the Post's digital offerings -- with a revamped website and mobile apps, Post content on applications from Facebook and Google, and a Post app pre-loaded onto Amazon Fire and Kindle tablets and offered at a discounted price.

The Post is also offering its content for free through websites of smaller newspapers around the United States, in a step toward fulfilling its ambition as a national rival to The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

The Bezos experiment is being closely watched in the industry as newspapers struggle with declining print readership and advertising that pressures the business model of once-lucrative metropolitan dailies.

"The most important thing he has done is give the Post runway -- giving the organization a chance to actually take some risks that may not immediately pay off financially," said Nikki Usher, a George Washington University professor specializing in new media and the future of journalism.

"This has allowed them the freedom to experiment. You see them hiring some of the most talented people in product and business areas, and also doubling down on reporting."

Ken Doctor, a media consultant and analyst who writes a blog called Newsonomics, said Bezos is borrowing some of the techniques he used to build Amazon into an online powerhouse.

"Amazon is world class in the customer experience," Doctor told AFP.

"It has figured out what people want and made that as seamless as possible. And it is Jeff Bezos's quest to bring that same level of understanding to The Washington Post."