Ross: How not to bully a billionaire like Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, has acknowledged he had an affair with a former TV anchor named Lauren Sanchez. But what would have been a private matter escalated exponentially when the National Enquirer decided to publish the lovers’ intimate text exchanges.

The Enquirer is owned by David Pecker, a friend of Donald Trump. And of course Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post which is not a friend of Donald Trump.

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So Bezos dispatched his private security chief to find out exactly how his phone was hacked, and how photos and texts were obtained. That investigation so panicked Mr. Pecker over at the Enquirer that his lawyer sent a confidential letter demanding that either Bezos call off that detective – or else the Enquirer would publish private photographs of Bezos and Sanchez. Turns out, they were sexting each other.

Apparently, these photos conclusively prove that even billionaires have private parts.

I don’t envy billionaires. They have complicated lives, and end up launching large chunks of their money into space. But there is one aspect of billionairing which can come in handy — not having to give a rip.

And so yesterday Bezos simply published the Enquirer’s blackmail threat in a post on Medium, complete with its description of the racy pictures. He accuses the Enquirer’s parent company, AMI, and Mr. Pecker of attempting to blackmail him. He even posted the emails he received from the company to prove it.

In his Medium post, Bezos wrote: “Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I’ve decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten.” He argues that the threats from the publication are politically based since he owns the Washington Post and the Enquirer is cozy with President Trump. After all, AMI has helped Trump in the past. Then Jeff Bezos tweeted it out for the world to see.

I’ve written a post about developments with the National Enquirer and its parent company, AMI. You can find it here: https://t.co/G1ykJAPPwy

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) February 7, 2019

In my opinion, Anthony Weiner has nothing to worry about. But it sounds like the Enquirer sure does. Because this paper just ticked off a guy who has a bigger budget than Robert Mueller … and a drone fleet.

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