Jeff Bezos had a tense conversation with editors and reporters from his own paper this week after staff pressed him about a $75 million investment tied to Melania Trump‘s documentary.
The Daily Beast reported that the meeting was held at Bezos’s Washington home, where he reportedly asked the journalists to leave their phones outside. This was done in an attempt to keep the conversations during lunch under complete control.
Regardless of all attempts, the reporters didn’t shy away from cornering Bezos. They reportedly asked the billionaire whether the $75 million investment in Melania Trump’s documentary was intended to “curry” favours from President Donald Trump.
“One staffer asked Bezos pointedly whether Amazon’s involvement with Melania Trump’s documentary was an effort to curry favor with the Trump administration. Bezos denied that assertion, growing defensive and insisting that it was a ‘hands-off deal’” https://t.co/BMLRenEUCu pic.twitter.com/oVW1se9XhG
— Nick Field (@nick_field90) March 13, 2026
“One staffer asked Bezos pointedly whether Amazon’s involvement with Melania Trump’s documentary was an effort to curry favor with the Trump administration. Bezos denied that assertion, growing defensive and insisting that it was a ‘hands-off’ deal that he wasn’t involved in personally,” Status reported.
Bezos also told staff he expects the project could still bring returns. Meanwhile, on Rotten Tomatoes, MELANIA scored 11% on Tomatometer. The film flopped at the box office after its release in the U.S. theatres on January 30, 2026. It only earned a mere $16.6 million in ticket sales.
Critics have called the film weak on substance, and reviews were poor. However, the film topped Amazon Prime Video, despite its disappointing theatrical performance. That contrast fed reporters’ worries that the project may look more like a political favor than a standard business bet.
This wasn’t all because the reporters also confronted Bezos regarding the recent layoffs at The Washington Post. In February 2026, the publication witnessed a large-scale layoff that reduced its opinion desk to shambles. For those unaware, the newspaper was acquired by Bezos from the Graham family back in 2013 for $250 million.
Some of the reporters received termination letters while they were busy reporting from war zones like Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, among others. Meanwhile, the reporters revealed that the latest layoff of one-third of the Post’s reporters also demotivated the remaining employees.
On an X post, the U.S. representative from Texas, Greg Casar, called out Jeff Bezos for firing hundreds of news reporters, “After paying $40M for the Melania movie, Bezos is firing hundreds of Washington Post reporters who tell us actual facts. All while turning the editorial board into a billionaire-defense operation…”
“This isn’t sitting well with anybody,” one staffer reportedly said during the Thursday meeting. Furthermore, the attending journalists voiced their displeasure at Bezos being completely absent for weeks while WP went through massive cut-offs.
After paying $40M for the Melania movie, Bezos is firing hundreds of Washington Post reporters who tell us actual facts.
All while turning the editorial board into a billionaire-defense operation.
Too often, the billionaires who control our biggest media outlets are selling out…
— Congressman Greg Casar (@RepCasar) February 4, 2026
Bezos has stressed that strategy should be driven by data and by efforts to make the newsroom sustainable. However, laying off seasoned journalists, some of whom had won the Pulitzers, goes to show that Jeff Bezos may understand how Amazon works but he is yet to have a stronghold on the media industry.
Even if the $75 million Melania movie deal was just a straight business investment, what concerns everyone is the unstable newsroom, which has left the “fourth pillar of democracy” shaking.
