Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is to purchase the Washington Post newspaper for $US250 million.
Mr Bezos is buying the paper and its other print properties in a personal capacity.
The Post has been owned by the Graham family for 80 years. The paper, which was known for its coverage of the Watergate scandal, has struggled to adapt its print coverage to the web.
The BBC reports the sale is expected to be completed in the next 60 days.
In an open letter posted on the Washington Post's website, Mr Bezos said he would not be leading the paper on a day-to-day basis and would not seek to change "the values" of the paper.
However, he added: "There will, of course, be change at The Post over the coming years...
''The internet is transforming almost every element of the news business: shortening news cycles, eroding long-reliable revenue sources, and enabling new kinds of competition, some of which bear little or no news-gathering costs."
