Media

Famed for its role in the Watergate scandal, The Washington Post has had an illustrious history

n 2010 The Washington Post sold Newsweek magazine for $1 plus liabilities to Sidney Harman, who merged it with The Daily Beast. Earlier this week it was sold again to IBT Media, the publisher of the International Business Times. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images
n 2010 The Washington Post sold Newsweek magazine for $1 plus liabilities to Sidney Harman, who merged it with The Daily Beast. Earlier this week it was sold again to IBT Media, the publisher of the International Business Times. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Tue Aug 06 2013 - 11:05

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.

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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.

Reuters