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# The Washington Post’s Most Valuable Asset May Be Arc, its Content Management Platform
- URL: https://capitolcommunicator.com/the-washington-posts-most-valuable-asset-is-now-its-software-reports-the-observer/
- Published: 2019-10-07T21:40:30.000Z
- Updated: 2019-10-08T20:20:58.000Z
- Author: Capitol Communicator
- Tags: B to B, Insights, #Import 2026-10-08 18:50

**Since Jeff Bezos bought the *Washington Post* for $250 million in 2013, the Amazon CEO has been distancing himself from the editorial operation** of the fabled newspaper, reports the Observer, but “behind the newsroom, he has been diligently involved in the development of the publishing software powering the *Post*‘s digital content.

“His work is becoming increasingly valuable to the media company. Last week, the *Post* struck a deal to license its content management platform, Arc, to British oil giant BP. The energy company will use the tool to publish articles, newsletters and videos to its 70,000 employees across 250 internal websites and a future mobile app.

“Like several other media companies with in-house content management systems, the *Post* runs a side business of licensing its publishing software to other news sites. But realizing that many large companies’ communication teams are [essentially publishers](https://observer.com/2019/08/vimeo-coo-interview-ad-free-model-video-streaming-war/?ref=capitolcommunicator.com) in terms of the size of audience they serve, Bezos wanted to reach clients beyond the media circle.

“BP was the first non-media client the *Post* has attracted.

“The licensing business of Arc was officially created in 2014 shortly after Bezos took ownership. According to [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-25/bezos-s-washington-post-licenses-its-publishing-technology-to-bp?ref=capitolcommunicator.com), he would meet with Arc’s engineers every two weeks to discuss strategies and plans to improve the software.

“Although Arc is not yet a profitable unit on its own, business has been booming in the past three years. Licensing revenue tripled From 2016 to 2017 and more than doubled last year.”

More [here](https://observer.com/2019/10/jeff-bezos-washington-post-publishing-software-arc-licensing-bp-media-revenue/?utm%5Fsource=Daily+Lab+email+list&utm%5Fcampaign=b0df66611c-dailylabemail3&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fterm=0%5Fd68264fd5e-b0df66611c-396144785).