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Advance excerpts from Regime Change, a forthcoming book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, have stirred the pot. According to press accounts of the excerpts, Jeff Bezos told President Donald Trump at a private dinner that the Washington Post was “his worst investment” and that “the people there are terrible.” Those lines — reported from advance book material — landed hard because they come as the Post reels from big editorial changes and deep staff cuts.
What the book excerpt reportedly says
According to multiple press reports that cite advance excerpts of Regime Change, Jeff Bezos — founder and Executive Chair of Amazon; founder of Blue Origin; and owner of the Washington Post — told President Trump that owning the Post was “his worst investment.” The reporting also attributes to Bezos the line that “the people there are terrible” and that “they don’t listen. My other companies, they listen.” These are reported as passages from advance book material, not as independently verified direct quotes from the printed book.
Context: Why the remark lands
Newsroom turmoil and editorial meddling
This alleged remark matters because the Post has not been floating along happily. Bezos’s moves since 2024 — a pause on presidential endorsements, a memo to refocus opinion pages, and then deep layoffs that cut roughly a third to 40 percent of staff — are all well reported. The paper also suffered big losses in the mid‑2020s and saw its publisher depart, with an acting publisher now in place. Put all that together and a line like “worst investment” reads less like gossip and more like a summary.
Bezos finally says what many suspected — but don’t pop the champagne
Call it belated honesty. If the advance excerpts are accurate, Bezos admitted what conservatives and many readers already suspected: the Post is an expensive headache that resists reform. Good on him for noticing. But this is not a victory lap for anyone. The paper shrank after the staff revolt over editorial demands. Subscribers fled. The newsroom lost talent. And now a private dinner, turned book excerpt, gives us a tidy soundbite to describe years of dysfunction.
Wrap-up: Verify, then judge
For now, treat the Bezos lines as reported excerpts from Regime Change by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. The proper next step is to read the printed excerpt or the book when it appears and to hear from Bezos’s camp or the Post if they care to respond. Still, whatever the exact wording, the episode is a neat snapshot of what happens when a tech billionaire buys a legacy outlet and tries to run it like a startup. The Post’s troubles were already public. The book excerpt simply put a bright light on the mess — and gave conservatives one more reason to shrug and move on.
