Washington Post publisher and chief executive Will Lewis resigned on Saturday, ending a turbulent two-year tenure that culminated in the layoff of more than one-third of the newspaper's staff just days earlier. Chief Financial Officer Jeff D'Onofrio has been named acting CEO and publisher effective immediately, taking the helm of one of America's most storied news organizations amid deep financial and editorial turmoil.
Lewis's departure came three days after approximately 300 newsroom employees were let go in one of the most sweeping cuts in the newspaper's nearly 150-year history. The layoffs, announced via a Zoom call by editor Matt Murray on Wednesday, eliminated the entire sports desk, drastically reduced local news staff from over 40 to roughly 12 reporters, and dismantled much of the international reporting team including the entire Middle East bureau.
The outgoing publisher faced intense backlash from staff and the public after he was conspicuously absent during the layoff announcement. He was subsequently photographed walking the red carpet at a pre-Super Bowl event in San Francisco on Thursday, further inflaming anger among affected journalists and the broader media community. The optics of the publisher attending a glamorous sporting event while hundreds of his employees lost their jobs drew sharp condemnation across the industry.
The Washington Post has been hemorrhaging money and subscribers in recent years. Lewis disclosed in June 2024 that the newspaper was losing approximately $100 million annually. The paper also lost an estimated 375,000 digital subscribers, roughly 15 percent of its subscriber base, following owner Jeff Bezos's controversial decision to block a planned endorsement of Kamala Harris ahead of the November 2024 presidential election. That episode triggered a crisis of credibility that the newspaper has struggled to recover from.
In a note to employees, Lewis stated that after two years of transformation at The Washington Post, the time was right for him to step aside. He acknowledged that difficult decisions had been necessary to ensure the newspaper's sustainable future. Former executive editor Martin Baron criticized Bezos for prioritizing his other ventures, Amazon and Blue Origin, over the publication's editorial mission, warning that the newspaper's journalistic integrity was at stake.
D'Onofrio, who previously served as CEO of the social media platform Tumblr before joining the Post as CFO in June 2025, now faces the monumental challenge of stabilizing a newsroom reeling from unprecedented cuts. The Washington Post, founded in 1877 and purchased by Bezos for $250 million in 2013, enters a deeply uncertain new chapter with roughly 500 remaining journalists and profound questions about its editorial direction and long-term viability under its billionaire owner.
Comments