Jeff Bezos paid his first visit to The Washington Post newsroom on Tuesday afternoon following his purchase of the publication for $250 million last month.
As one might expect from a room floor full of reporters, many staffers live-tweeted the Amazon founder's movements throughout the newsrooms and offered a mix of sarcastic and serious reactions to their new billionaire boss:
Jeff Bezos visiting @washingtonpost newsroom as we speak #Breaking pic.twitter.com/Kx3HZGGVNp— Theodore Kim (@TheoTypes) September 3, 2013
Spotted: Jeff #Bezos taking a tour of the @washingtonpost today pic.twitter.com/02xLvHZkPb— Casey Capachi (@caseycapachi) September 3, 2013
The Bezos Cometh. RT @tjortenzi: He is in the newsroom!— Sarah Anne Hughes (@dcistsarah) September 3, 2013
Tidy up your desks, folks, Bezos is at large in the Post newsroom.— Lydia DePillis (@lydiadepillis) September 3, 2013
Some appeared to be impressed by what Bezos had to say; others were apparently impressed by how he, uh, smelled:
Just had first meeting w Bezos. Optimistic about what this chapter will bring.— Michael Cirrito (@cirrities) September 3, 2013
He smells like money, basil and shipping labels.— T.J. Ortenzi (@tjortenzi) September 3, 2013
After touring the newsroom, Bezos apparently rang the bell to summon staffers to a meeting:
I think Mr. Jeff Bezos just rang the bell for our A1 meeting. The golden era begins here, folks.— Anup Kaphle (@AnupKaphle) September 3, 2013
Applause/giggles MT @jfdulac MT @ktumulty Jeff Bezos just rang bell summoning #wapo editors to story conference. Applause ensued.— Lindsay Applebaum (@lindsapple) September 3, 2013
Most well-attended @washingtonpost afternoon story conference in recent memory. May have to do with our special guest star. #Bezos Effect— Carlos Lozada (@CarlosLozadaWP) September 3, 2013
Earlier in the day, The Post published an interview with Bezos in which he suggested that it would take "years" to fix the Post and noted yet again that he would serve as more of an advisor to the paper rather than a hands-on chief executive. If that's true, his visit to the newsroom Tuesday may go down as one of the rare opportunities for staff to have face time with Bezos.