Last year, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post. Now, the newspaper is moving forward with a new revenue stream, and it’s something pretty unique for a newspaper publisher.
The Post will license its content management system to other newspaper sites, according to a report from The Financial Times, which says:
Potential clients could include the recently launched network of local and regional US newspapers whose subscribers receive free access to the Post’s digital products. The paper views “the partner programme as not just about content but about us offering technology solutions”, said Shailesh Prakash, chief information officer.
Student newspapers at Columbia, Yale and the University of Maryland already use the Post’s content management software in a trial for how it could be opened up to other professional news services.
The Post is already adding engineers and expanding its design and development efforts with a new office. The paper has reportedly added 20 engineers to its team of over 200 this year.
Business Insider, which Bezos also invests in, points to comments he made at its conference:
The internet has radically disrupted traditional newspapers, so there’s a lot of invention and experimentation to be done … even though I didn’t know anything about the newspaper business, I did know something about the internet and companies reacting to the internet. That, combined with the financial runway that I can provide, is the reason why I bought the company.
The Post has reportedly added about 100 people to its editorial staff since Bezos took over.
Image via The Washington Post
