Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Accuses National Enquirer of Attempted Blackmail
Tabloid’s parent says it acted lawfully in the reporting of the Bezos story and that it will investigate the claims
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos publicly accused National Enquirer publisher David Pecker of blackmail and extortion, alleging that the company’s coverage of him has been politically motivated. WSJ’s Shelby Holliday explains why his claims are making headlines. Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com Inc., accused National Enquirer’s publisher of trying to blackmail him by threatening to release embarrassing photos, escalating a fight that began with the tabloid’s revelations of his alleged extramarital affair.
In a lengthy post on the web platform Medium, Mr. Bezos alleges that American Media Inc. demanded that he call off investigators he brought in to determine how the Enquirer obtained his personal text messages for the initial article it published and whether it had untoward motives...