The Washington Post, a widely respected newspaper in the national capital, changed ownership in a dramatic way. The family-run paper now is owned by Jeff Bezos, a billionaire who founded the successful online store Amazon in 1994. His $250-million purchase last week made news because of the paper and buyer are each high-profile, and also because it symbolizes the newspaper industry's evolution to a new era.

Here's how one business writer, Bill Rigby of Reuters, describes the impact: "The famed innovator is bringing enormous street cred to bear on a problem that has baffled newspaper owners for over a decade: how to reverse the ebb of advertisers to other media." The Post company's chief executive, Donald Graham , says he and other members of the family that has owned the paper for four generations "decided to sell only after years of familiar newspaper industry challenges made us wonder if there might be another owner who would be better for the Post."

The new owner says the paper "will need to experiment" to compete profitably." The Internet is transforming almost every element of the news business," he notes in a memo to staff members. . . . There is no map, and charting a path ahead will not be easy." Dan Froomkin, a former top online edition editor at the Post, agrees that it won't be easy – but is optimistic about the change. "It’s very exciting" he writes in Columbia Journalism Review. "I had thought it was too late for newsrooms to stake out their rightful place as nerve centers for the Internet, but I’m not so sure anymore."

Jeff Bezos says: "The values of The Post do not need changing. The papers duty will remain to its readers and not to the private interests of its owners." – Memo to employees

Journalist says: "Now a new owner, in the new Internet orbit, brings his own glamour to The Post. Good luck to you, Jeff Bezos of Amazon. The Post is dead. Long live The Post." -- Henry Allen, former Post writer and editor

Educator says: "The real challenge is to make that [Post] brand relevant to the generation that’s coming out of college." – Steve Coll, journalism dean at Columbia University and a former Post managing editor