Amazon Prime members are being offered a free six month trial of the digital edition of the Washington Post and a discount on future subscriptions, in the first major step to bring the two businesses closer together by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.

“Offering free access to new subscribers through Prime allows us to connect with millions of members nationwide who may not have tried the Post in the past,” said Washington Post president and general manager Steve Hills. “With this special offer, Prime members can see firsthand why more than 50 million people monthly choose the Washington Post as their source for news.”

Bezos’s $250m acquisition of the Washington Post brought to an end 80 years of ownership by the Graham family, which turned the paper into one of the most respected titles in the world via its series of scoops over the Watergate scandal.

The deal sparked intense speculation about how the power of the world’s largest online retailer would be brought to bear on one of the US’s most prestigious titles.

Bezos has made more funds available to the Post, which has taken on a more national outlook and invested in new staff and technology. However, the offer for Amazon Prime subscribers is the first hint at how Bezos plans to fit the newspaper into the rest of his digital empire.

It also adds another element to the $99-a-year Amazon Prime membership scheme, which started out as a next day delivery service but has expanded to include TV and music streaming, cloud storage and ebooks.

“Offering free access to new subscribers through Prime allows us to connect with millions of members nationwide who may not have tried the Post in the past,” said Hills.