Bezos selling WPost to buy Commanders?

The mind boggles...Alden or New Gannett as new owners of the Washington Post? https://nypost.com/2023/01/23/jeff-bezos-will-sell-washington-post-to-buy-commanders-investors/

 

I have many doubts about this story.

First, it's in the NY Post.

Second, Bezos is worth something north of $120 billion. He doesn't need to sell anything* to buy a football team.


*He bought the WaPo for $250 million. Sofa cushion money.

 

That is where the article seems to end it. It never connects the dots and focuses more on Bezos' reasons for buying, his lack of interest in newspapers, and the poor fit between him and the Post.
The only reason offered as to why selling the Post would help in a purchase of the Commanders is it might appease Snyder, which makes no sense. The damage to Snyder is done and if he isn't the owner, who owns the Post doesn't matter to Snyder.

 

Which has me wondering... who buys the Post?

About a thousand other people would buy the football team at whatever the price ends up being. The demand for the Post, not so much.

 

Pipe dream, but I'd love to see the Post be a non-profit, something like the Packers.

 

So Aaron Rodgers would be the health care editor?

 

I see him more as the advice columnist - "Ask Aaron."

 

I think this is the only viable route for most news organizations, but there isn't enough data or information yet on just how viable it truly is. I'm really curious if anyone knows how The Salt Lake Tribune is performing as a non-profit and how things look as we approach the one-year anniversary of the Chicago Sun-Times going non-profit.

 

There always have been papers run as non-profits. New London, Conn., is the one that immediately comes to mind. Not metros, but decent sized (and usually top-notch quality) mid-sized joints.

 

The New York Times.

According to this chart (the only thing I could quickly Google) the Times has 8.4 million digital subscribers (that would include customers who buy just buy the cooking section, etc..) The link shows the Post has three million subscribers.

Digital news subscriptions worldwide 2022 | Statista

I find it hard to believe the Post has that many subscribers. But whatever the number is the Times would pick up a lot of additional subscribers and page views to sell advertisers. The Times could also consolidate operations and reduce redundant staff. I think the Post is worth at least the 650 million dollars the Times paid for the Athletic.

 

I thought I once read on this board something along the lines of "Being a non-profit is not a business plan but a tax status."

Is that true?