Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post offered “big congratulations” to Donald Trump on Wednesday for his “extraordinary political comeback” following his win in the presidential election.
“Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory,” Bezos wrote in a post on X. “No nation has bigger opportunities. Wishing @realDonaldTrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.”
Two weeks before the election the Washington Post came under fire for refusing to endorse a candidate in the contest. That led more than 200,000 readers, about 8% of the newspaper’s base, to cancel their subscriptions over the course of three days, NPR reported.
It was later revealed that Bezos blocked the Post’s endorsement of Harris which critics saw as an attempt by the multi-billionaire to curry favor with Trump in a potential second term.
In a Washington Post op-ed published late last month Bezos defended his decision to withhold his newspaper’s endorsement of Harris, asserting that endorsements create the “perception of bias” and that there was “no quid pro quo of any kind.”
“Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election. No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, ‘I’m going with Newspaper A’s endorsement.’ None,” Bezos wrote. “
“What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias,” he continued. “A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.”
Bezos also addressed reports about Trump’s meeting with executives from his company, Blue Origin, the same day the Post announced it would not endorse in the race. He denies that there is a connection.
“I didn’t know about the meeting beforehand,” he said. “The meeting was scheduled quickly that morning. There is no connection between it and our decision on presidential endorsements, and any suggestion otherwise is false.”
During his first term as president, Trump accused Amazon of scamming the U.S. Postal Service and called “the Fake Washington Post” a lobbying arm for Amazon.
Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy also congratulated Trump on his re-election.
“Congratulations to President-elect Trump on a hard-fought victory,” he wrote. “We look forward to working with you and your administration on issues important to our customers, employees, communities, and country.”
