Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

A lot of people were surprised when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post for $250 million in 2013.

At the time, The Post was a legacy media company facing years of decline, while Bezos had no prior experience in the newspaper business.

But in less than three years, Bezos has completely changed the outlook of the 140-year-old newspaper. Its readership has exploded, and its content has become more suitable for the digital world.

Here's a look back at how Bezos revitalized The Washington Post since taking over less than three years ago....

Netflix's refusal to show ads is a core part of its identity.

The company has always maintained that killing ads provides a better experience for its subscribers, and shows no signs of changing that position. And that stance has had an effect.

"We know one of the benefits of an ecosystem like Netflix is its lack of advertising," Howard Shimmel, a chief research officer at Time Warner, told Bloomberg last year. "Consumers are being trained there are places they can go to avoid ads."...