通过收购《华盛顿邮报》(Washington Post)，亚马逊公司(Amazon.com Inc.)首席执行长贝索斯(Jeff Bezos)似乎是想实现长久以来的一个梦想，那就是在新闻业留下自己的印记。但对于这位以创造了一家最具创新性和破坏性的互联网公司著称的亿万富翁来说，问题是他想成为哪种媒体所有人: 是赫斯特(William Randolph Hearst)还是巴菲特(Warren Buffett)？
In buying the Washington Post, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos appears to be fulfilling a long-held dream of making his mark on journalism.
现年49岁的贝索斯于2007年推出了电子阅读器Kindle，从根本上改变了人们的读书方式，并引发了一场向数字出版的转变。
But for the billionaire known for creating one of the Internet's most innovative--and disruptive--companies, the question is what kind of media owner he will be: William Randolph Hearst or Warren Buffett?
不久后他将注意力转向新闻业。2009年他推出了一款尺寸更大的电子阅读器，这款产品的设计旨在提供一个订阅报纸的新方式。尽管这款产品推出时有纽约时报公司(New York Times Co.)董事长苏兹贝格(Arthur Sulzberger)助阵，但却从未流行起来。
Mr. Bezos, 49 years old, fundamentally changed the way people read books with the introduction of the Kindle e-reader in 2007, igniting a shift toward digital publishing.
然而贝索斯对新闻业一直抱有兴趣。2011年，他推出了Kindle Singles，记者可以使用这个服务以每篇不到2美元的价格出售长篇作品。今年他还投资了新闻网站Business Insider。
He soon directed his attention toward journalism. In 2009, he introduced a larger-format version of his e-reader, designed to be a new venue for newspaper subscriptions. But the product, introduced on stage with New York Times Co. (NYT) Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, never caught on.
接近贝索斯的人说，他每天都使用Kindle阅读新闻，而且还是一个书虫，他会在与高管举行的会议中讨论领导方面的书。据《时尚》(Vogue)杂志对他的小说家妻子麦肯齐•贝索斯(MacKenzie Bezos)的情况介绍，贝索斯有时也会担当书籍编辑，在妻子的手稿上给她一些详细的注释。
Yet Mr. Bezos's interest in journalism remained. In 2011, he introduced Kindle Singles, a way for journalists to sell long-form writing for less than $2 per article. This year, he invested in news website Business Insider.
一位亚马逊发言人不予置评，并表示，贝索斯无法接受采访。
People close to Mr. Bezos say he reads newspapers every day on his Kindle and is an avid book reader, discussing leadership tomes in meetings with executives. According to a Vogue profile of his novelist wife, MacKenzie Bezos, Mr. Bezos is also a sometime book editor, apparently giving her detailed notes on her manuscripts.
亚马逊前高管里舍(David Risher)说，这宗报纸收购交易是贝索斯热衷的一些事情的交集，他对于阅读非常有热情。里舍目前经营一家非营利阅读组织，贝索斯曾以个人名义向该组织提供捐助。
尽管贝索斯对华盛顿邮报公司(Washington Post Co. )说，他不会参与该报的日常运营，但曾经在亚马逊工作过的人说，他在亚马逊几乎所有的重要项目上都留下了印记。他们说，重要人事和战略变化通常都需要他个人核签。
The newspaper acquisition 'falls into the intersection of a couple things he's passionate about,' said David Risher, a former Amazon executive who runs a nonprofit reading organization, Worldreader, to which Mr. Bezos has personally contributed. 'He's passionate about reading.'
在亚马逊，贝索斯逐渐渗透了一种极为重视客户服务和低成本的文化。亚马逊高管乘飞机出行时都坐经济舱，西雅图总部的一些办公桌是用门板改造的，以此提醒员工节俭。
While Mr. Bezos told Washington Post Co. (WPO) that he would keep away from the newspaper's day-to-day operations, people who have worked at Amazon say he puts his mark on nearly every major project there. Significant personnel and strategy changes typically require his personal sign-off, they said.
贝索斯从普林斯顿大学(Princeton University)毕业后，曾在纽约从事金融服务业，但1994年他辞去工作，搬到西雅图地区，在自己的车库中创办了亚马逊。该公司最开始时销售实体书、CD和DVD，但后来将业务拓展开来，成为沃尔玛(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)的一个竞争对手，销售化妆品、家具和电子产品，包括它自己生产的Kindle电子阅读器和平板电脑。
At Amazon, Mr. Bezos has instilled a culture of extreme focus on customer service and low prices. Amazon executives fly coach class, and some desks at Amazon's Seattle headquarters are fashioned out of repurposed doors to remind employees to be frugal.
亚马逊有很多年都不盈利，但在本世纪前10年，随着人们越来越能够接受网购的想法，该公司迅速发展起来。贝索斯任公司董事长兼首席执行长，同时也是公司的宣传者，参加电视节目，在节目中用自己的微笑和开怀大笑赢得了观众的喜爱。
Mr. Bezos worked in the financial-services industry in New York after graduating from Princeton University, but quit his job in 1994 and moved to the Seattle area to start Amazon in his garage. The company initially sold printed books, CDs and DVDs, but branched out later and became a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) competitor by offering toiletries, furniture and electronics, including the Kindle e-reader and tablet computers it makes itself.
他也因有些古怪而出了名。与已故的苹果(Apple)创始人乔布斯(Steve Jobs)一样，贝索斯几乎总是穿同样的行头：蓝色牛仔裤、浅蓝色衬衫和黑色短上衣。他曾对《君子杂志》(Esquire)说，他不愿早上起来想该穿什么衣服。
The company didn't turn a profit for years, but boomed in the 2000s as people became more comfortable with the idea of online shopping. Mr. Bezos, the company's chairman and chief executive, also served as Amazon's pitchman, going on TV shows where he charmed audiences with his smile and bellowing guffaw.
将他众多各异（有时令人费解）的投资统一起来的是对长远目标的专注。
He also developed a reputation as a bit of an eccentric. Like the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, Mr. Bezos almost always wears the same outfit: bluejeans, light-blue shirt and dark blazer. He once told Esquire magazine he didn't want to think about what to wear in the morning.
贝索斯拥有一家宇宙飞船公司"蓝色起源"(Blue Origin)，该公司正在研究一种将宇航员运到国际空间站的方法。
One thing that unites many of his varied, and sometimes esoteric, investments: a focus on the long-term.
他最怪异的项目位于得克萨斯州西部他名下一处地产上的深山里，在那里，一个团队正在利用他拿出的至少4,200万美元建造一座直径200英尺（约合61米）的钟。这座尚未完工的"万年钟"(The 10,000 Year Clock)将为每年、每10年、每100年、每1,000年和每10,000年的周年纪念日奏响布谷鸟叫声一样的钟声。
Mr. Bezos owns a spaceship company, Blue Origin, that is working on a way to ferry astronauts to the international space station.
贝索斯2011年接受采访时说，我做这个项目的原因是，它是长远思考和长期责任的一个象征。我们人类已经掌握了非常先进复杂的技术，从某种角度说，我们给自己带来了危险。随着时间的流逝，人类越来越有必要对自己的未来持有一个更长远的看法。
His quirkiest project can be found deep inside a mountain on a property he owns in West Texas, where a group he has financed with at least $42 million is building a 200-foot-clock. Called 'The 10,000 Year Clock,' the yet-to-be-completed timekeeper will play a cuckoo-like sequence for the anniversary of every year, decade, century, millennium and 10 millennia.
Greg Bensinger / Stu Woo
'The reason I'm doing it is that it is a symbol of long-term thinking, and the idea of long-term responsibility,' Mr. Bezos said in a 2011 interview. 'We humans have become so technologically sophisticated that in certain ways we're dangerous to ourselves. It's going to be increasingly important over time for humanity to take a longer-term view of its future.'
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Greg Bensinger / Stu Woo
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