The Washington Post Sold to Amazon's Jeff Bezos for $250 Million

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos speaks in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept. 6, 2012.

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos is buying The Washington Post and other newspapers for $250 million.

The longtime publisher, The Washington Post Co., announced the deal Monday. Bezos is buying the paper as an individual. Amazon.com Inc. is not involved.

Washington Post chairman and CEO Donald Graham called Bezos a "uniquely good new owner." He said the decision was made after years of newspaper industry challenges. The company, which owns the Kaplan education business and several TV stations, will change its name but didn't say what the new name will be.

Bezos, who was is 49 years old, was raised by a Cuban stepfather. He was born in 1964 to a teenage mother in Albuquerque, N.M. Her marriage to his father lasted a little more than a year, and when Jeff was four she remarried to Miguel Bezos.

Miguel was born in Cuba, migrated to the United States alone when he was fifteen years old, worked his way through the University of Albuquerque, married, and legally adopted Jeff.

Bezos said in a statement that he understands the Post's "critical role" in Washington and said its values won't change.

"This is a day that my family and I never expected to come. The Washington Post Company is selling the newspaper it has owned and nurtured for eight decades," publisher and CEO Katharine Weymouth wrote in a letter to staff published on the POLITICO website.

"The buyer is one of America’s great innovators and most respected business leaders, Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer and founder of Amazon.com," she wrote. "Jeff is making this acquisition in his personal capacity and not as part of Amazon."

According to POLITICO, the transaction covers other publishing businesses, including the Express newspaper, The Gazette Newspapers, Southern Maryland Newspapers, Fairfax County Times, El Tiempo Latino and Greater Washington Publishing.

Based on reporting by The Associated Press.