Bezos: I Paid Asking Price, Skipped Due Diligence, When I Bought Washington Post

Amazon's billionaire honcho Jeff Bezos says he didn't perform any due diligence before spending $250 million to buy The Washington Post in 2013 — and didn't even quibble over price.

In a profile of the Amazon chief executive officer in Fortune magazine, Bezos said the Post is "the first company I’ve ever been involved with on a large scale that I didn’t build from scratch."

"I did no due diligence, and I did not negotiate with [former owner] Don [Graham]," he tells Fortune. "I just accepted the number he proposed."

Bezos at first didn't jump at the chance to buy the newspaper, according to a Wall Street Journal report in 2013.

"Initially, Mr. Bezos held back, citing a lack of time to properly deal with a transaction," the Journal reported at the time. "Then, in July [2013], Mr. Bezos wrote an email to Mr. Graham saying, 'If you're interested, I am.'"

Business Insider reports that in its own interview with Bezos in 2014, he was ultimately convinced to buy the Post after realizing his experience in the online world and financial backing could re-energize the Post's declining print-based business.

Related Stories:

• Bezos Has Washington Post Battle New York Times
• Jeff Bezos Escorts Freed Washington Reporter Home on Private Plane