Washington Post CEO Steps Down Days After Mass Layoffs
The Washington Post’s CEO and publisher Will Lewis stepped down Saturday, just days after the embattled newspaper laid off roughly 300 staffers—nearly a third of its workforce—in a sweeping restructuring effort.
Lewis, brought in by owner Jeff Bezos in 2024 to rescue the financially struggling paper, said he was leaving to “ensure” a sustainable future for the institution. “After two years of transformation at The Washington Post, now is the right time for me to step aside,” Lewis wrote in a note to staff. “Difficult decisions have been taken in order to ensure the sustainable future of The Post so it can for many years ahead publish high-quality nonpartisan news.”
Jeff D’Onofrio, the company’s chief financial officer, will step in as interim CEO.
Bezos, who purchased the paper in 2013, praised the Post’s journalistic mission in a statement and emphasized the need for data-driven strategy. “Each and every day our readers give us a roadmap to success,” Bezos said. “The data tells us what is valuable and where to focus.”
The shake-up comes amid a major overhaul at the paper that has included gutting its sports department, scaling back international reporting, and axing popular initiatives like the Post Reports podcast. Executive editor Matt Murray described the cuts as essential to adapting to a “more crowded, competitive, and complicated media landscape.”
The Post’s international bureau has been reduced, with the paper maintaining reporters in about a dozen countries. Some sportswriters will be reassigned to the features section as the standalone sports desk is eliminated.
The metro section is also being restructured, and the outlet plans to pivot resources toward national news, investigative reporting, and health and wellness coverage. “If we are to thrive, not just endure, we must reinvent our journalism and our business model with renewed ambition,” Murray told staff.
For many inside the paper, the timing of Lewis’s exit—following such dramatic internal upheaval—raises questions about the company’s long-term direction. While Bezos continues to publicly back the outlet, industry observers are watching closely to see whether the changes lead to a turnaround or further decline.