The Washington Post is a reminder of the dangers of billionaire ownership

‘Here is the problem: billionaires are mostly immune to consumer pressure. That’s how they became and remain billionaires.’ Photograph: Bonnie Cash/Reuters

Last week the Washington Post refrained from endorsing a candidate in the presidential race for the first time in 36 years. The decision was reportedly ordered by Jeff Bezos, the Post’s owner and one of the richest men in the world. The Seattle billionaire, who owns Amazon, purchased the flailing newspaper in 2013 in a rare fit of civic duty.

The blowback was immediate and substantial. Within 48 hours of the announcement as many as 200,000 paying readers cancelled their subscriptions to the already money-losing news organization, according to reporting by NPR.