New York:

The prestigious Washington Post is in crisis, with pressure on from owner Jeff Bezos to change its money-losing ways.

The Post’s managing editor abruptly resigned; a chosen successor withdrew under fire, and a boss has been targeted in the newspaper’s columns.

At the heart of the storm is “WaPo”‘s new CEO, Briton William Lewis, who was given a mission by Amazon founder Bezos when he appointed him last autumn.

Lewis was asked to turn around a newspaper that continues to pile up Pulitzer Prizes half a century after the Watergate scandal it instigated, but which has lost $77 million in 2023 despite job cuts and the disappearance of its Sunday supplement.

However, the former journalist, who made history in the late 2000s with a scoop on the expenses of British MPs when he was editor of the Daily Telegraph, is finding his position increasingly vulnerable.

For weeks now, revelations have multiplied about his role, when he was working for the Murdoch family’s conservative media group about 12 years ago, in a scandal of illegal phone tapping by the tabloid The News of the World.

On Friday, Lewis was at the center of an investigation by his own journalists.

According to the Washington Post, he gave the go-ahead in 2011 for the destruction of thousands of emails, fueling suspicions that he was destroying evidence, which he denies.

“Trump Bump”

As the US presidential election approaches, the affair is poisoning the atmosphere at a long-vaunted newspaper that is “not doing well economically,” Northeastern University journalism professor Dan Kennedy tells AFP.

The Post was among trusted news outlets that benefited from the upheaval that marked Trump’s four years in the White House which ended with his loss to President Joe Biden.

The Post “was seen as a place that offered really tough, truth-telling coverage” of Trump, according to the professor.

Trump’s departure from the White House meant fewer attention-grabbing stories to keep readers engaged.

“When Donald Trump left the White House, the Trump bump that helped a lot of newspapers disappeared,” Kennedy said.

“And the Post was hit especially hard.”

By the end of 2022, the Post would have 2.5 million subscribers compared with 3 million subscribers when Biden took office in early 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, rival New York Times has grown to more than 10 million subscribers, the fruit of a strategy to diversify into fun topics such as games, food, and lifestyle while still serving up hard news.

US media quoted Lewis as telling editorial staff in early June that he “can’t sugarcoat it anymore” — the paper has lost a lot of money and people’s interest in its articles.

Third News Team

The day before that editorial meeting, Post journalists learned of the resignation of editor-in-chief Sally Buzbee.

Buzbee is said to have disagreed with Lewis’s strategy to split the editorial department into three divisions: news, opinion, and a new third unit devoted to social media and service journalism.

The contours of this “third newsroom” remain unclear, but it seems aimed at reviving readership in a leap into the unknown for the newspaper.

Within the Murdoch family group, Lewis was the boss of the Wall Street Journal (2014-2020), another flagship of the US press.

However, articles in the New York Times and the Post pointed to questionable methods employed under his watch and that of former colleague Robert Winnett, whom Lewis chose to replace Buzbee.

Published allegations include paying informants, using data from hacked phones, or intermediaries using phony identification to get information.

Winnett withdrew from consideration for the post following those revelations.

Professor Kennedy believes Lewis has no choice but to leave the Post because he has lost the confidence of the team there.

“The body is rejecting the transfusion,” Post veteran David Maraniss wrote on his Facebook page, adding he didn’t know anyone who thinks the situation can stand as it is.

“If he can’t inspire the staff (…) the Post will sail without direction and its best people will leave,” Kennedy said of Lewis.

For many observers, the outcome of the crisis lies in the hands of billionaire Bezos, who bought the Post for $250 million in 2013.

So far, Bezos has backed his CEO.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin resumed its space flight today, after a two-year hiatus. A group of six adventurers completed an 11-minute journey to space after liftoff from Texas.

Mission NS-25 is the seventh crewed mission for Blue Origin, the space company founded and owned by Jeff Bezos.

30-year-old Gopi Thotakura, a pilot from Andhra Pradesh, was also part of the six-man crew. Preserve Life Corp, a medical institution close to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that focuses mostly on holistic health methods, was co-founded by Gopi Thotakura.

He has become the first Indian to travel into space as a tourist on Blue Origin’s return flight.

“It was amazing… you have to see it with your eyes”, said Gopi Thotakura after his space trip.

“I can’t describe how it is to look into space… everybody should go to the space. It was good to see Earth from the other side,” he added.

“Gopi Thotakura is a lifelong pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive. He flies jets commercially, in addition to piloting bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes. He’s also the co-founder of Preserve Life Corp, a global center for holistic wellness and applied health”, said Blue Origin about the Indian crew member on social media platform X.

Gopi Thotakura is a lifelong pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive. He flies jets commercially, in addition to piloting bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes. He’s also the co-founder of Preserve Life Corp, a global center for holistic wellness and applied… pic.twitter.com/of2nzsPvEd

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) May 19, 2024

The other crew members included Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schallera, and Ed Dwight.

90-year-old Dwight surpassed Star Trek star William Shatner, who was nearly two months younger, to become the oldest person to travel into space.

Ed Dwight is the first American Black man to be trained as an astronaut. Dwight was unable to achieve his goal of being the first black astronaut in space in 1961.

“We just completed our seventh human spaceflight and the 25th flight for the New Shepard program. Our #NS25 astronaut crew included: Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Ed Dwight, Ken Hess, Carol Schaller, and Gopi Thotakura. Thank you, astronauts”, said Blue Origin on X after the space flight.

We just completed our seventh human spaceflight and the 25th flight for the New Shepard program. Our #NS25 astronaut crew included: Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Ed Dwight, Ken Hess, Carol Schaller, and Gopi Thotakura. Thank you, astronauts! Learn more: https://t.co/4a0UXRy6p6pic.twitter.com/kzL5GIQSql

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) May 19, 2024

“I was the first guy in the world to be famous for not doing something. Needless to say, I’m overwhelmed”, said Dwight before the liftoff.

Dwight was a skilled test pilot when President John F. Kennedy reassigned him to a highly competitive Air Force program, which was considered a path to the astronaut corps. But in the end, he was not chosen.

“This is a life-changing experience, everybody needs to do this,” said Dwight after the 11-minute space flight.

“I thought I didn’t really need this in my life,” reflecting on his omission from the astronaut corps, which was his first experience with failure as a young man. “But I lied”, he added.

With inputs from IANS, AFP

Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin will resume flights to space on Sunday, ending a near two-year pause of crewed operations following a 2022 mission failure.

The NS-25 mission will lift off from Launch Site One in West Texas, with the launch window for the flight starting at 0830 CT (1330 GMT), the company said on Tuesday.

The New Shepard rocket, which flies cargo and humans on short trips to the edge of space, has been grounded since a September 2022 uncrewed mission failed roughly a minute after liftoff from Texas, forcing the rocket’s capsule full of NASA experiments to safely eject mid-flight.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration closed its review of Blue Origin’s New Shepard investigation last year, agreeing with the company’s findings. It required Blue Origin to make 21 corrective actions, including an engine redesign and “organizational changes”.

The upcoming NS-25 mission will have six crew members, including former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, the first Black astronaut candidate in the United States.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ former assistant is now the fifth richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. With an estimated fortune of $117 billion, Steve Ballmer is just one spot behind Mr Gates on the real-time list of the world’s richest person. He is currently richer than Larry Ellison ($114 billion), Warren Buffet ($113 billion), and Mark Zuckerberg ($110 billion), the index shows. Meanwhile, Bill Gates’ fortune stands at $122 billion. 

According to CNN, Mr Ballmer joined Microsoft as its 24th employee in 1980. He has seen his wealth balloon over the past year to reach $117 billion, as per Bloomberg’s data. His fortune now puts him in fifth place, and his wealth since the beginning of the year has surged by more than $30 billion, the outlet reported. 

Ahead of Mr Ballmer are Elon Musk ($193 billion), Bernard Arnault ($156 billion), Jeff Bezos ($156 billion) and Bill Gates ($122 billion). Notably, he is unique among the top-10 cohort as he is the only non-founder of a major business empire. 

As per CNN, Mr Ballmer attended Harvard University, where he met Mr Gates. He graduated in 1977 with degrees in applied mathematics and economics. Mr Ballmer began his career at Microsoft as an assistant to the president some four decades ago. He then rose through the ranks to eventually become its president and then CEO, succeeding Mr Gates. Mr Ballmer stepped down as CEO in 2014 and the same year he bought the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team. 

However, much of Mr Ballmer’s wealth still remains tied up in Microsoft stock. According to Bloomberg, he still owns a roughly 4% stake in the company.

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Meanwhile, speaking about Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, Elon Musk has lost $41 billion for the first time since June. According to the report, Mr Musk’s net worth dropped to $193 billion. Notably, Mr Musk, who is the richest person in the world, owns 13% of Tesla and derives the majority of his wealth from the auto company. Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index report said that Mr Musk has lost $41 billion since Tesla’s October 18 earnings call. The report says that Mr Musk’s was $234 billion before the company’s disappointing third-quarter results.