听说了吗，杰夫•贝佐斯已经同意以2.5亿美元收购《华盛顿邮报》（The Washington Post）？当然听说了，因为你是新闻消费者，而你的承办商们（如我和我的同僚）都被会议室里发生的事情搞得心神不宁。或许，你正在读的文章正绘声绘色地描述仁慈的亚马逊（Amazon）创始人如何身骑白马，只身拯救一家苦苦挣扎在数字时代的公司。

    我也同意，对于《华盛顿邮报》而言，这是笔好买卖。但对于亚马逊股东们而言，却要另当别论。

    杰夫•贝佐斯是那种几乎让自己的公司都黯然失色的CEO。股东们之所以信任亚马逊，只是因为他们相信贝佐斯，而他总是把长期收益放到短期盈利能力之上。

    然而，似乎贝佐斯在《华盛顿邮报》中投入的任何时间都是本应该用于亚马逊的时间。记住，他收购这家报纸只是一笔个人投资，而不是通过亚马逊（如果通过亚马逊进行收购会更加有趣）。这笔交易不会产生任何公司协同效应，因为它们不是同一家公司。

    真正的问题在于，贝佐斯会将多少时间投入到最近购买的公司当中。有人认为，他只会投入很少的时间，一定程度上是因为2.5亿美元的购买价格还不到贝佐斯净资产的1%（如果是这样，贝佐斯将《华盛顿邮报》打造成数字利润中心的说法在很大程度上就没有意义了）。但我并不这么认为。

    我的怀疑一部分是根据我的预感，一名互联网企业家拯救一家因为互联网陷入鬼门关的公司，贝佐斯肯定对这种想法感到着迷。但我更多的疑问在于，媒体会如何关注贝佐斯在《华盛顿邮报》的一举一动，只要报纸陷入困境时贝佐斯袖手旁观，媒体批评肯定会铺天盖地而来。

    记住，相对其他大多数公司（包括亚马逊）的未来，我们（所有人）更关心（《华盛顿邮报》）这家公司。这将让他之前或好或坏的经历都相形见绌。即使是像贝佐斯这样具有强烈方向感的人，如果他不密切参与决策，面对如此严密的监督，也可能迷失方向。

    需要说明的是，我并不认为亚马逊的股东单单因为贝佐斯收购了一家报纸就出售亚马逊公司的股票。但他们也没什么值得庆贺的，因为未来，他花在主业上的精力必然会减少。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓 

    Did you hear that Jeff Bezos has agreed to purchase The Washington Post for $250 million? Of course you did, because you're a news consumer and your purveyors (i.e., me and my peers) are collectively obsessed by what happens in our own boardrooms.

    And what you probably read were glowing accounts of how the Amazon (AMZN) founder was riding in on a white horse to save an institution struggling to succeed in the digital age. The Beneficent Beez.

    And I agree that, for The Washington Post, this is a welcome development. What this means for Amazon.com shareholders, however, may be another matter.

    Jeff Bezos is one of those few CEOs who almost eclipses his own company. Shareholders believe in Amazon because they believe in Bezos, and his prioritization of long-term gains over short-term profitability.

    But it would seem that any time Bezos now gives to WaPo will be time he's not giving to Amazon. Remember, he is buying the paper as a personal investment, not via Amazon (which would have been a more interesting move). There will be no corporate synergies because there is no common corporation.

    The real question is how much time Bezos really will devote to his newest portfolio company. There are some who believe it will be minimal, in part given that the $250 million purchase price represents less than 1% of Bezos' net worth (in which case the whole talk of Bezos converting WaPo into a digital profit center is largely moot). But I don't buy it.

    Part of my skepticism is based on a hunch that Bezos must be intrigued by the idea of an Internet entrepreneur saving a business that is on death's door because of the Internet. More of it, however, is based on how the media is going to watch every move Bezos makes with WaPo, and be withering in its criticism if he takes a hands-off approach while the paper burns.

    Remember, (the collective) we care about this particular company's future more than we do the future of most other companies (including Amazon). It will make what he's experienced so far -- the good and the bad -- feel like the minor leagues. Even for someone with a famously strong sense of direction, such scrutiny could be disorienting if he isn't intimately involved with the decision-making.

    To be clear, I'm not arguing that Amazon shareholders should sell because Bezos is buying a newspaper. But they also shouldn't be celebrating because, going forward, he'll be paying a bit less attention to his primary job.