The Washington Post on Saturday said its CEO and publisher Will Lewis was leaving effective immediately, just days after the storied newspaper owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made drastic job cuts that angered readers.
Although newspapers across the US have been facing brutal industry headwinds, Lewis’ management of the outlet was sharply criticized by subscribers and employees alike during his two-year tenure as he tried to reverse financial losses at the daily.
Lewis, who is English, has been replaced by Jeff D’Onofrio, a former CEO of social media platform Tumblr who had joined the Post as chief financial officer last year, the paper announced.
Photo: The Washington Post via AP
In an e-mail to staff shared on social media by one of the newspaper’s reporters, Lewis said it was “the right time for me to step aside.”
A statement from the Post said only that D’Onofrio was succeeding Lewis “effective immediately.”
Hundreds of Post journalists — including most of its overseas, local and sports staff — were let go in the sweeping cuts announced on Tuesday last week.
The Post did not disclose the number of jobs being eliminated, but the New York Times reported approximately 300 of its 800 journalists were laid off.
The paper’s entire Middle East roster was let go as was its Kyiv-based Ukraine correspondent as the war with Russia grinds on. Sports, graphics and local news departments were sharply scaled back and the paper’s daily podcast, Post Reports, was suspended, local media reported.
Bezos, one of the world’s richest people, and Lewis have come under scrutiny for intervening directly in the paper’s editorial processes.
Bezos reined in the newspaper’s liberal-leaning editorial page and blocked an endorsement of Democratic US presidential candidate Kamala Harris days before the 2024 election .
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that 250,000 digital subscribers left the Post after it refrained from endorsing Harris, and it lost about US$100 million in 2024, as advertising and subscription revenues fell.
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