Amazon founder Jeff Bezos responded to a report Monday that claimed that he was considering selling The Washington Post so he could purchase an NFL team from an owner who hates the newspaper.
The New York Post reported that Bezos is looking to potentially buy the Washington Commanders from team owner Dan Synder.
Snyder, however, despises the newspaper because it reported on the alleged toxic management of the NFL franchise.
After the report was published on Monday, representatives for Bezos and The Washington Post both told CNN that the newspaper was not for sale.
The New York Post report comes after the newspaper’s publisher, Fred Ryan, told staff last month that there would be layoffs.
Sources reportedly told the New York Post they believe that The Washington Post is for sale even though Bezos allegedly told senior staff at the paper that he had no plans to sell.
“I think Bezos’ people could go to Dan and say as a gesture of goodwill, ‘We are selling the paper,’” a source familiar with the matter said. “I think that would go a long way with Dan.”
The bank that Snyder hired to sell the team continues to court Bezos, even though Snyder might not want to sell to him, the report said. The first round of bidding has already started.
JP Finlay, who covers the Commanders for NBC Sports, tweeted, “Not only was I told Bezos didn’t submit a bid, I’ve had people tell me the Snyder family has absolutely no interest in selling to Bezos.”
Bezos, who purchased the paper a decade ago for a quarter of a billion dollars, said in a book that he wrote that purchasing the paper would be one of his top achievements.
“I know that when I’m 90, it’s going to be one of the things I’m most proud of, that I took on the Washington Post and helped it through a very rough transition,” Bezos wrote.
The report noted that Bezos’ libertarian-leaning political views have reportedly made him an awkward fit for the paper.
Journalism professor Edward Wasserman said that he did not believe that Bezos understood how owning the paper would “muzzle him” when he bought it and that “it would make sense for him to get out of it.”