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Jeff Bezos speaks out about The Washington Post for the first time since mass layoffs — and focuses on ‘data’

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Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos gave his first public statement since the paper enacted massive job cuts this week, and it focused on “data” and understanding reader interests.

The billionaire Amazon founder, who built one of the world’s most valuable companies with a relentless focus on customer satisfaction, indicated he wanted to see that same energy at the Post.

“The Post has an essential journalistic mission and an extraordinary opportunity,” Bezos wrote. “Each and every day our readers give us a roadmap to success. The data tells us what is valuable and where to focus.”

Bezos’ statement came as Post CEO Will Lewis announced he was stepping down, to be replaced in an interim capacity by Post CFO Jeff D’Onofrio.

Bezos’ statement struck a similar tone to comments made by the paper’s top editor, Matt Murray, in addressing staff earlier this week.

“Today is about positioning ourselves to become more essential to people’s lives in what has become a more crowded, competitive, and complicated media landscape,” Murray said during a staff call on Wednesday. “For too long, we’ve operated with a structure that’s too rooted in the days when we were a quasi-monopoly local newspaper.”

Murray sent staffers a detailed memo on Wednesday that outlined focus areas in which he said the Post demonstrates “authority, distinctiveness, and impact.” Those priority areas will include politics, national affairs, national security, and other forces “shaping our future,” like science and business, Murray wrote.

Murray spoke repeatedly about focusing on areas of reader interest and understanding audience data in an appearance following the layoffs on the Puck podcast “The Grill Room.”

The messaging from Bezos and Murray could help appease some critics who have seen moves by the Post in recent years as rooted in political ideology and not data — though it will be difficult to win them over.

The Post faced a revolt both inside the newsroom and among readers when Bezos made a late-hour call in 2024 that the paper wouldn’t endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in 36 years. NPR reported that more than 200,000 subscriptions were canceled in the days following.

The paper faced another round of criticism in February 2025 when Bezos decided to reorient the Post’s opinion section — generally considered the owner’s prerogative — around personal liberties and free markets.

Former Post executive editor Martin Baron, who worked closely with Bezos during his tenure as top editor, wrote in a LinkedIn post after the layoffs that the paper’s challenges had been made “infinitely worse by ill-conceived decisions that came from the very top.”

Critics of Bezos’ moves have said he should consider financially supporting the paper, given its role in society.

“It just seems heartbreaking that he doesn’t feel the paper is important enough to bankroll,” Sally Quinn, the longtime journalist and widow of former Post executive editor, Ben Bradlee, said this week on CNN.

Bezos said in his statement that he felt the Post’s leadership going forward could build an “exciting and thriving next chapter” for the paper.




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US planning for the Maduro raid eyed a time when much of the Venezuelan military was expected to be on holiday, memo reveals

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US planning for the high-risk raid to apprehend Venezuela’s former president, Nicolás Maduro, centered on a time when much of the country’s military would be on holiday leave, a newly released memo reveals.

The December 23 memorandum from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel offers fresh details about how the US planned to pull off the daring nighttime raid to capture Maduro in his fortified compound and transport him to New York to stand trial. The former leader has pleaded not guilty to the drug and weapons charges he faces.

The raid began late on January 2 and ran into the next day. President Donald Trump said on January 3 that the initial plan was for the operation to occur four days earlier, on December 30, but he decided to wait for better weather.

“The expected duration of the operation within Venezuelan territory is [redacted] hours,” wrote T. Elliot Gaiser, a US assistant attorney general, wrote in the late December DOJ memo, which looks into the legality of the raid and was made public this week. Much of the planning section is blacked out.

“In order to minimize casualties, the strike will take place at 0100 am (local time) on a date where a maximum number of Venezuelan military would be on leave for the holidays,” Gaiser wrote.


A squad of Venezuelan Air Force K8W aircraft overflies during the 2025 Venezuela industrial aviation expo at the Libertador Air Base in Maracay, Aragua State, Venezuela, on November 29, 2025.

The US attacked Venezuelan military targets as part of its raid earlier this month.

Federico PARRA/AFP via Getty Images



It’s unclear how many soldiers were away when the US actually executed the operation in January. Dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security personnel were killed, the two countries said after Operation Absolute Resolve concluded.

The DOJ memo, which cited Pentagon planning information and details how the US could effectively present the action as a law enforcement operation rather than an act of war, said that the US expected to encounter “significant resistance” from Venezuela’s air defenses.

That anticipated resistance includes several dozen anti-aircraft systems on the approach to Fuerte Tiuna, a major military installation in Caracas where Maduro and his wife were believed to be and, indeed, were at the time of the operation.

The memo outlined how US aircraft would strike air defense systems to clear a path for assault forces to reach Tiuna. It said that the Pentagon aimed to target a local power switching station to keep the power off, which could explain Trump’s post-raid remarks that a “certain expertise” was used to turn off the lights in Caracas.

The US could have also carried out a cyberattack or employed electronic warfare capabilities. “Kinetic operations will be preceded by non-kinetic action,” the memo said.


A fuel tanker truck drives past US Air Force F-35 Lightning II and F-22 Raptor fighter jets on the tarmac at the former Roosevelt Roads naval base, after US President Donald Trump said the US has struck Venezuela and captured its President Nicolás Maduro, in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, January 3, 2026.

More than 150 US aircraft participated in the operation.

Eva Marie Uzcategui/REUTERS



The memo was published several days before the raid, so it’s unclear how US planning may have changed between the time it was written and the actual operation.

Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on January 3 after the raid that more than 150 US aircraft participated in the operation, including stealth jets, electronic attack aircraft, surveillance and reconnaissance planes, airborne early warning aircraft, bombers, and drones.

Many of these aircraft targeted and engaged Venezuela’s air defenses to clear a path for low-flying helicopters carrying the forces that stormed Maduro’s compound and apprehended the former president and his wife, consistent with the planning memo.

The US didn’t lose any aircraft during the raid. A helicopter took a hit but still remained operational, and a defense official said seven American service members were wounded during the night.

“Risks to the mission are significant,” the memo said, adding that its “success will depend on surprise.” In the aftermath, Caine said the US achieved “totally the element of surprise.”




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I stayed home while my family traveled because I needed a break. I loved my alone time.

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When people asked me what I was doing for the holidays, I responded almost too giddily, “I’m spending it alone.” Their eyes narrowed, “What?”

I told them I was sending my husband and the kids to his family in Massachusetts, and I’d stay back in Pennsylvania. All. By. Myself. I wouldn’t have to answer to anyone or for anything. Not requests for snacks or one more backrub. I wouldn’t have to sit rigid, wondering if one of my three kids was creeping out of a bed that wasn’t theirs. Or defend my parenting style while my oldest yelled about how life wasn’t fair and we must all really hate him, and why should he have to listen to anyone anyway.

After a beat, every single mom (and a few dads) told me: “I’m jealous. I want to do that. How did you swing that?”

I had hit a breaking point

The decision to be alone during the holidays came slowly at first and then all at once. I’d hit a breaking point that most parents, especially moms, are all too familiar with. But the moment I toyed with the idea of staying back — in a quiet, clean, empty house — that was it. It was all I could think about.


Family at the beach

The author’s spouse was supportive of her taking time off.

Courtesy of the author



I broached the topic, gently, with my husband, who couldn’t have been more supportive and emphatic. “You should take a few days away!” But I didn’t want to be away. I wanted to be home alone. That was the key.

As the days ticked closer to The Big Departure, people asked me when Jeff and the kids were leaving. “Wednesday, but I can’t ask when, specifically,” I’d laugh.

I explained to the kids that I needed some alone time; I needed to take a break. They, who are 8, 5, and 3, were relatively unfazed. My middle, big-feeling daughter made me promise to call her every two minutes. I wanted them to know that it was OK for Mom (or Dad) to step away and be alone. It didn’t mean I loved them any less. Something, something about distance making the heart grow fonder.

Self-care is crucial

Mental health experts agree. Solitude can be a crucial form of self-care (unless it makes you truly uncomfortable to be totally alone). “When you seek out intentional solitude, and the demands on your attention and focus melt away, it allows you to have a level of awareness that can support healing and growth,” Emily Moriarty, M.Ed., a licensed professional counselor and director of clinical services at Reset Outdoors, told Business Insider.

Finally, they were off. And I didn’t know what to do with myself. Everything was weirdly quiet. Clean. Empty. I loved it. I had a couple of low-key plans over the next few days, but my goal was to savor the silence and the lack of a schedule.


Living room

The author really enjoyed her time alone.

Courtesy of the author



When 5 p.m. rolled around on the first night, I started making dinner while listening to music. I danced a little. I ate while reading a book. No one argued with me that they didn’t like what was served. Cleanup was easy. I put my dishes away. I didn’t need to sweep — I don’t spill things on the floor.

I turned my phone off; I didn’t need an alarm. No one needed to reach me, and if they did, they could wait. Dad was more than capable. I slept in. I drank coffee on the couch in front of the fire in my pajamas. I forced myself to allow things to move slowly — something I have a hard time doing with or without kids.

“Solitude doesn’t include sitting alone in an office working,” Moriarty said. “It has to be non-work, non-caregiving time.”

When it was time for the Big Holiday Meal, I thought I’d feel a little lonely. But I didn’t, and that, I realized, was because this was my choice. I knew my family was enjoying themselves with relatives they don’t often see and having a little vacation. And I knew that they’d all be home before I knew it.

I had a little mom guilt

By the end of the fourth day, the air was thick with anticipation of the kids and Jeff coming home. I felt like I couldn’t watch TV fast enough. I couldn’t sit in a quiet, empty house fast enough. I couldn’t drink enough coffee fast enough. But when I started making dinner at 5 p.m., awaiting their 8 p.m. arrival, I realized if I had to keep doing this, I might get a little… bored?

I’m sure that has more to do with the stark contrast of raising three kids, co-running a household, and having a (fairly successful) career, and four days of abrupt, near-total solitude. If I didn’t have kids at all, I’m sure I wouldn’t be bored at 7 p.m.

People have since asked me if this will be my new holiday tradition. I did like it, maybe a bit too much, but it feels wrong to indefinitely celebrate the holidays without my kith and kin. Four days weren’t enough to assuage Mom Guilt, apparently.




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My mother is spending the holidays with me for the first time in years. I’m struggling with the added costs and to-dos.

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I have not spent Christmas with my mother in more than a decade. We have spent our Christmases apart simply because of geography. We’ve been living on opposite sides of the country: a five-hour flight or a 26-hour car ride through unpredictable weather.

So, she’s kept to herself for the holidays, and I’ve become the keeper of Christmas for my immediate family. Even as my sons grew up and moved away, taking on their own roles to make our holidays special, I’m still the list-maker, the “don’t forget” reminder, and the decider in all things.

My four sons, all between 25 and 31 years old, have helped lighten my load over the years, especially as their partners have come onto the scene. Christmas was just starting to take on a new, easier shape.

But this year, my mother lost her husband of nearly 40 years, so she’s coming to visit, and I’m realizing how far I will need to stretch my budget.

I have to be my mother’s Santa this year

At first, I didn’t really think about how my mother’s arrival might change my own role for the holidays. I just thought about my mom, exhausted and heartbroken and unmoored by the loss of the husband she has lived with for more than half her life.

But as she gets ready to fly to me for Christmas, I’m realizing she’s going to need me to be her Santa.

My mom needs a Santa. She has suffered this year in a way I cannot even imagine. She needs soothing; she needs to be reintroduced to a big family Christmas. She needs a stocking filled with fun, thoughtful trinkets. She needs me to make this year extra magical, and honestly, I’m worried I’m not up to the task.

I’m struggling to keep up with everything this Christmas

I’m finding this Christmas overwhelming because everyone in the family needs me for different reasons. My kids need me to bring them together, to cook for them and bake for them, and organize a big rental space for the group of us.


Jennifer McGuire and her four sons

The author and her four sons usually spend Christmas together.

Courtesy of Jennifer McGuire



I’m also paying attention to everyone’s finances, thinking about who is doing well and who is not. I’m thinking about who might need a bit more and how I can give a bit more without playing favorites. How can I afford a bit more?

This is, perhaps, the crux of Christmas this year. The weight of giving to my children and my mother when they all need more. Whether it’s holiday gifts, time, or food, everyone needs me to be their person this year.

Even though everyone in the house will be a grown-up, I’m left feeling, for all intents and purposes, like the only grown-up for the holidays.

I’m struggling financially

I’m worried that I simply cannot afford to be Santa for everyone — not this year. Like many others, I have lost job after job in 2025. I am swimming just below the surface of losing everything, and I can’t seem to come up for air.

I know that no one in my family expects a lot for Christmas, but even a little something to make the day special for each person who so deeply deserves it will be a struggle. There are 10 people in our family, and $100 each means $1,000. We all know that $100 each is next to no budget at all.

And so this year, I’m getting creative. I’m buying secondhand gifts. I’m trying to become a crafty person to create something meaningful for all of my loved ones. I’m wishing I had helpful elves to take on some of my Santa tasks. I’m actively choosing to leave the stress of trying to find work at the door until after the holiday. I’m trying, I’m trying, I’m trying.

I’m focusing on giving my mother support

My mother’s first Christmas as a widow can’t be consumed by my own stress. She needs comfort. She needs family. She needs joy. Luckily, all of that is free.

She needs me to be the grown-up in the house. She needs me to be Santa. They all do, and I refuse to buckle under the weight of it.

Instead, I’m going to choose to feel grateful that I have all of this love in my life.




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My dad died unexpectedly. It taught me that I needed to plan for my funeral ahead of time.

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Sitting across from the funeral director, I held my husband’s hand. I needed to feel something real while my body moved between sadness and shock. I glanced at my mom to steady her and at my husband for support. There was one person noticeably missing from our group: my dad.

The day before, I wouldn’t have guessed I’d be spending my afternoon at a funeral home. I had talked to my dad that night and made plans for our weekly dinner. When I hung up the phone, I had no clue that was the last time I’d speak to him. There was no inner hunch that doom was on the horizon, and nothing that said he wasn’t feeling well. So, the next morning, when the ER doctor told my mom, husband, and me that they tried to revive him and failed — I didn’t know how to process the information. Dying of a heart attack made no sense. I thought we had plenty of time.

Throughout my life, we had relied on him to answer the hard questions, and we desperately needed him now. It had only been three hours since his unexpected passing, and here we were planning his funeral. I had no idea what he wanted.

He was healthy and active

I recall sitting at my parents’ dinner table with my then-9-year-old son. He drank his milk while my dad gestured to the desk behind him. The white stack of papers (the size of a small novel) stood out against the stack of magazines. “Do you want to read my will?” my dad asked with a wink.


Grandfather with grandchild

The author’s dad was healthy and active before he died.

Courtesy of the author



I paused.

Not really what I’d call an uplifting dinnertime read. At 71 years young, he was active and in good shape — a recent retiree ready to travel and spend time with his grandkids. I didn’t want to think about his potential decline — my dad was invincible.

He never caught the colds and stomach flus I brought home from school. He rarely missed work, and I figured I wouldn’t have to deal with this anytime soon. My grandparents lived well into their 80s — my great-grandmother until 100. I did the quick math — that was at least another 10 years or more.

I politely declined the read, telling him there’d be plenty of time to cover that another day. “That’s all right,” he began with a smirk,” I fell asleep when I tried to proofread it.” And that was that. There was no talk of caskets or whether he preferred The Beatles or the Rolling Stones to be played at his funeral.

No reason to discuss his death when he was so full of life. That night, we finished our hamburgers, and his will stayed on the desk, gathering dust, for the next year. And then time ran out.

Not knowing what my father wanted made it hard to grieve

This memory ran through my mind as I tried to answer the questions the funeral director asked. It was hard to concentrate with this huge lump in my stomach. Mostly, I wanted to cry and run away. Even hiding under the covers right now sounded like a good option.

I concentrated on the warmth of my husband’s hand and answered some basic questions, such as where my dad was born and his age. I failed when asked for his Social Security number. My mom tried to take over, but she was so distressed that her answers were slow and hard to access. I wanted to talk to my dad. I wish I had. This would be so much easier.

Looking at my husband, I immediately thought about my son sitting in a similar seat for us. My shoulders tensed. My tears started again, but this time because I imagined an older version of my kid stumbling through unknown answers with no space to feel his feelings. I did not want this overwhelming ordeal for him. If I could make it easier or eliminate this step completely, I would.

My husband and I made plans so my son doesn’t have to

Later that night, when my husband and I had a quiet moment alone, I told him I wanted to write out our death details for our son. He looked surprised and whispered, “We have plenty of time.” I’m sure that was meant to reassure me, but it was exactly what I said to my dad not that long ago. My mom heart would do anything to protect our son’s space to grieve. I wanted cozy childhood memories to comfort him when one of us couldn’t — not images of his mom or dad in a casket.

A few weeks later, as I processed my dad’s passing, my husband and I talked about our own. We created a checklist of what we wanted, including which funeral home and cemetery to contact. My husband and I added doodles and love notes to the list and made sure our will was in order, too. Instead of freaking my 9-year-old with more morbid information, we told trusted family members where to find all the papers. Fingers crossed, it will sit in my desk drawer gathering dust for many more years to come.




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The best-selling country musicians of all time

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Updated

  • The best-selling country artists of all time include Elvis Presley, Tim McGraw, and Shania Twain.
  • We used RIAA’s data to compile this list based on total album units sold in the US.
  • Only three artists on this list debuted in the 2000s: Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, and Luke Bryan.

Did you know two of the top three best-selling musicians of all time are country music artists?

Elvis Presley and Garth Brooks trail only the Beatles in record sales.

Country music is one of the most popular genres in music, with its own set of stars, award shows, and hall of fame.

We used the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) list of best-selling artists, ranked by albums sold, to pick out the top 25 most successful country musicians of all time.

To qualify as a country star, a musician’s output had to primarily appear on country charts, or the artist had to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, nominated in the country genre at the Grammys, or have received nominations at country award shows like the CMAs or the ACM Awards.

Here’s who made the cut, from No. 25 to No. 1.




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American Eagle’s bet on Sydney Sweeney and Aerie’s anti-AI pledge are paying off big time

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American Eagle’s marketing campaigns are giving the company a meaningful boost.

The retailer has launched a number of campaigns this year that have been at the center of viral moments online.

It looks like they’re paying off financially. Its stock has been up this year, and its total revenue was $1.4 billion for the third quarter that ended November 1, roughly 6% higher year-over-year.

American Eagle raised forward-looking guidance for the fourth quarter, and its stock rose at least 10% after hours on Tuesday.

The boost was driven by its intimates and loungewear brand, Aerie, which saw comparable sales rise by 11%. While other retailers are spending big on AI products for consumers, Aerie is making a promise not to use the technology.

Its pledge not to use AI in its ads, shared in an Instagram post, garnered tens of thousands of likes, making it the brand’s most popular post in the past year as of October, Metricool, which tracks social media engagement, told Business Insider in October.

Its success is also due in part to the star power it tapped into with Sydney Sweeney and Travis Kelce being featured in campaigns that gained traction on social media.

Sweeney’s “Great Jeans” partnership in July drew criticism online from some who said the campaign had a negative message that promoted “regressive” beauty standards. American Eagle tripled down on the campaign.

“Sydney Sweeney sells great jeans. She is a winner, and in just six weeks, the campaign has generated unprecedented new customer acquisition,” chief marketing officer Craig Brommers said in September.

In August, American Eagle released a clothing line in collaboration with NFL star Travis Kelce and his Tru Kolors brand, one day after he announced his engagement to Taylor Swift.

The two campaigns combined made up 44 billion impressions, as it attracted more customers “than ever before.”

“American Eagle launched its largest, most impactful advertising campaigns ever, which are delivering results by collaborating with high-profile partners who are defining culture,” president and executive creative director Jen Foyle said on the Tuesday call.

The brand is not done forming an all-star cast of celerity partners. The most recent campaign is with Martha Stewart, and American Eagle is betting it’ll be a hit with Gen Z customers.

“Martha Stewart resonates with Gen Z. That’s a perfect example of what we’re up to,” Foyle said.




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Kevin Reilly had a great time running TV during the Peak TV era. Now he’s in AI.

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TV is an endangered species. People aren’t watching it, and don’t want to pay for it. And the companies that own TV networks are trying to find someone — anyone — to buy them.

But not that long ago, lots of us were reveling in the “Peak TV” era — a time when inventive TV programming was plentiful and, crucially, popular. A time when you could watch “The Sopranos” on HBO, “Friday Night Lights” on NBC, and “The Shield” on FX.

This was also a time when Kevin Reilly had great jobs in TV, where he steered programming at networks including NBC, FX, Fox, and Turner — and had his hands on all the shows I just mentioned. That run ended in 2000, when Reilly was re-orged out of what was then called WarnerMedia.

Today, Reilly is in AI, of course: He recently became CEO of Kartel, a startup that’s supposed to help big brands use the tech.

But in a recent episode of my Channels podcast, I talked to him about life during TV’s latest (and possibly last) golden age — and whether he thinks it will ever come back. (Spoiler: There’s a reason he’s in AI now.)

You can read an edited excerpt from our conversation below, and listen to the whole thing here.

Peter Kafka: You got to be a TV executive in what we now call the Peak TV era. What was that like?

Kevin Reilly: When I got to network television, there were still these rules, like “the good guy always wins” and “people don’t want to watch depressing things on television.”

And then cable, when I went to FX, that was really one of the most fun chapters of my career because it was the very early days of basic cable. All of a sudden, we started doing “The Shield” and “Nip/Tuck” and doing these things that the press had labeled “HBO for basic cable.”

Prior to this, basic cable was mostly infomercials and reruns.

Kevin Reilly: I was sitting there talking to great creators, and I was telling them we were HBO for basic cable. And on the monitor above my head was “Cops” running 24 hours a day, keeping the lights on.

I was like, “Don’t look at the monitor.”

But all of a sudden, we were able to do stuff that really wasn’t fit for broadcast by being very particular and being a little bit more forward.

Around the same time, streaming popped up, and Netflix debuted “House of Cards” in 2013 as an explicitly HBO-style show. There was a lot of fascination with streaming but also dismissiveness: Jeff Bewkes, who was running Time Warner at the time, famously dissed Netflix as “the Albanian army.” Did you believe that back then?

I think Jeff is an extraordinary leader, and I loved working for him. At the time, though, I think he had to do what he needed to do.

You don’t think he was really dismissive of Netflix? It was just something he had to say?

I think at that point, throughout the entire business, everyone was dismissive of Netflix. “We’re picking these guys’ pockets. They’re gonna go out of business. We’re selling them all the stuff that we can’t sell. They’re idiots.”

But at the same time, Netflix was all anybody was talking about, all day long. I remember flying to Detroit to talk to a big [advertising] client for one of our series. It was going to be a $50 million, $60 million transaction. And all they were talking about was Netflix.

They were buying advertising, and then telling me how all their kids are only watching things on their phones all day long. And I was like, “Isn’t this ironic that you, an advertiser, are talking about a non-advertising-based service and how your kids don’t watch TV anymore?”

What did you think?

I thought they would experiment and do stuff, but maybe not at scale. I mean, they don’t have the system for that, and it’s really hard. Well, first of all, they did what we did (at FX) — they took a page out of the HBO handbook: Fire the money cannon and say, “Hey, we’ll just dream. Bring us in your dreams. Do what you wanna do.”

Your last job in TV was at what was then called WarnerMedia, which had been purchased by AT&T, and there were a bunch of different justifications for that deal, but the real one turned out to be “maybe Wall Street will give us a Netflix stock multiple,” which never happened. Did you think that combination was going to work?

I mean, the product itself works and has been a success. But to take the entirety of Time Warner, and then it was going to be a one-product system that we would single-handedly launch and build an ad play around it, and all of a sudden compete with Google and Netflix …

I don’t know that even Wall Street ever bought that narrative, no matter how hard we sold it.

Comcast and Paramount are bidding for WBD. Netflix is bidding, too. There’s going to be some kind of consolidation no matter what. Do you think that when all of this gets done that there’s a future for traditional television, or do you think it becomes, in the end, a subset of a bigger tech platform?

I’d love to be able to just give you the knee-jerk answer, “Of course, there’ll always be traditional television.” I think unfortunately, everybody waited too long to figure out how we were going to prop it up.

So will it have a very long tail on it, like radio? The heyday of radio went away and we still have radio. I believe it will be around in some fashion. And as some of these assets get shed or reinvented — yeah, they might end up having a little bit more life in some ways than we thought they did.

And radio became podcasts…

Exactly. So there’s always new expressions of it.

But retooling traditional businesses, especially while you’ve got to pull the profit out from underneath, is really difficult.

Correction: December 1, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated one of the companies bidding for WBD: They are Paramount and Comcast, along with Netflix.




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I’m a New Yorker who went to Naples, Florida, for the first time, and 6 things surprised me

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  • I spent two days in Naples, Florida, for the first time in October.
  • I was surprised by the city’s extensive canals and waterfront mansions.
  • I didn’t expect the local airport to be so luxurious, and I was amazed by the crystal-blue waters.

When the temperatures dropped below 50 degrees Fahrenheit this October in New York, I was jonesing for one last taste of summer.

So I headed to the southern part of Florida, where the sun beams down on white-sand beaches and crystal-blue waters.

During my five-day trip, I spent two nights in Naples, a city known for its luxury lifestyle. In just 48 hours, I was surprised six times.

From the airplane window, the canals running through Naples, Florida, reminded me of Europe.

A view of Naples from a plane.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

I took a private plane from West Palm Beach to Naples. The coastal view from above amazed me, but the most surprising part was inland.

Hundreds of miles of canals run through Naples and the surrounding areas. It reminded me of trips I’ve taken to European cities like Venice, Italy, and Amsterdam.

I landed at the most luxurious airport I’ve ever seen.


The entrance to Naples Aviation Airport dotted with palm trees on a sunny day in Florida

The exterior of Naples Municipal Airport.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

If I’d flown commercial, I never would have seen Naples Municipal Airport. Used for private jets and charter flights, the general aviation airport has no gates or TSA checkpoints. I spotted signs of luxury the moment I exited the plane. The exterior was thoughtfully landscaped, and I noticed a valet stand by the entrance.

I thought the inside looked more like a high-end airport lounge than a terminal. Whimsical light fixtures dangled from the ceiling, there were couches in lieu of chairs, and the bathroom had a midcentury modern look.

I didn’t expect to find two Ritz-Carlton hotels within a five-mile radius.


A composite image of two Ritz-Carlton resorts in Naples, Florida

The Ritz-Carlton, Naples (left) and the Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón (right).

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

I spent both nights in Naples at the Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón, which is primarily a golf resort. But before my arrival, I had no idea that there was a Ritz-Carlton beach resort five miles west on the coast (called the Ritz-Carlton, Naples).

Even more surprising, I had access to both hotels throughout my stay.

It felt like a bonus to be able to experience the various amenities at each hotel. At the Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón, I floated through the lazy river by the pool. At the Ritz-Carlton, Naples, I lounged on the beach.

I assumed Naples would have waterfront homes, but I was shocked by the sheer volume of mansions lining the shores and canals.


A body of water in front of three mansions on an island with many palm trees in Naples

Mansions line the canals in Naples.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

During a boat tour of Naples, I got stellar views of these estates that backed up into the water.

Architectural styles ranged from coastal cottage and British West Indies to contemporary and Mediterranean revival.

Unlike New York, the downtown area was right next to the beach.


A road lined with palm trees leads to a beach

A road leads to the beach.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

We have ocean beaches in New York on the coastlines of the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn — a trek from the bustling streets of downtown Manhattan.

So when I was walking down Fifth Avenue in Naples, past the strips of shops and restaurants, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the street led straight to the ocean.

The ocean water was so strikingly blue.


Blue ocean waters in front of a shore lined with homes and palm trees in Naples, Florida

The coast of Naples.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

Standing in the sand and facing the water, the ocean looked noticeably clearer and bluer than it does in New York. When I ran into the waves and ducked my head beneath the surface, I felt as if I were somewhere in the Caribbean.




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