Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos announced on Monday that he has agreed to buy the newspapers owned by The Washington Post Co for $250 million. Here are some notable events in the history of the company since the founding of its flagship daily in 1877:
1933: Financier and former chairman of the Federal Reserve Eugene Meyer buys the Washington Post at a bankruptcy auction. His daughter, Katharine Graham, would go on to lead the company through its coverage of the Watergate scandal.
1946: Philip L. Graham, who had married Katharine in 1940, takes over the company, which incorporates as the Washington Post Co the following year.
1961: Purchase of Newsweek magazine.
1963: Philip L. Graham commits suicide with a shotgun; Katharine Graham becomes president of the Washington Post Co.
1971: Katharine Graham takes the Washington Post Co public with the sale of Class B stock at a price of $26 per share.
1972: The Washington Post publishes the first article concerning a break-in
at the Democratic National Committee's office at the Watergate complex. Subsequent coverage by reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein that detail a connection to the White House is instrumental in President Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974.
1973: Warren Buffett makes his first purchase of Washington Post stock. The company becomes a permanent holding of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.
1980: The Washington Post publishes Janet Cooke's story on an 8-year-old heroin abuser that goes on to win the Pulitzer Prize. The award is later stripped after it becomes clear that the subject of the story did not exist.
1984: The company purchases Stanley H Kaplan Education Centers Limited for $45 million.
1986: Company purchases cable systems serving 350,000 subscribers from Capital Cities/ABC for $350 million, making it the 20th-largest U.S. cable company.
2008: Katharine Weymouth, Katharine Graham's granddaughter, takes over as publisher of the Washington Post.
2010: The company sells Newsweek magazine to Sidney Harman for $1.
2013:
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos agrees to buy the Washington Post for $250 million in cash.
1933: Financier and former chairman of the Federal Reserve Eugene Meyer buys the Washington Post at a bankruptcy auction. His daughter, Katharine Graham, would go on to lead the company through its coverage of the Watergate scandal.