Amazon Prime Adds Unsurprising New Benefit: Free And Discounted Washington Post Subscriptions

Not like this, though. Digital subscriptions. Cats optional. (Adrian Scottow)

Two years ago, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos purchased the Washington Post from its longtime owners, the Graham family. While it was Bezos himself who bought the Post, and not Amazon, it was inevitable that the two companies would snuggle up once the transaction settled. First, Amazon’s Kindle Fire came pre-loaded with the Post’s app, and now members of the Amazon Prime program for free shipping and streaming media will get a free six-month digital Post subscription.

The free subscription isn’t bundled in with Prime forever, but members will receive a discount after those six months are up. A subscription normally costs $9.99 per month, and the price for Prime members who decide to subscribe will be $3.99 per month.

Everyone benefits in this transaction: the Post’s digital version gains a wider national audience for the content behind its paywall. Amazon gets to brag about a new perk for Prime members. Bezos gets to smile proudly as his companies bond with each other and share customers. Customers get to stop looking for a different source for a news story once they hit the Post paywall, if news is something that interests them.

Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post Strikes Amazon Prime Alliance

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist