The daily business briefing: February 8, 2019

Jeff Bezos accuses the National Enquirer's parent of extortion, fresh concerns over U.S.-China trade tensions rattle stocks, and more

Jeff Bezos at a press conference
(Image credit: David McNew/Getty Images)

1. Amazon's Jeff Bezos accuses National Enquirer publisher of blackmail

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos on Thursday accused the National Enquirer's parent company of "extortion and blackmail." In a post on the Medium blogging platform, Bezos said American Media Inc. threatened to publish intimate images of him after he started investigating how the Enquirer got text messages between him and his girlfriend, former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez. Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, said a lawyer for AMI emailed his representatives saying the company would release the images, including nude selfies, unless he and his security consultant falsely declared that they "have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI's coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces." AMI is led by David Pecker, a longtime friend of President Trump.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.