Washington Post CEO Will Lewis resigns after massive layoffs

The chief executive of the Washington Post is resigning, the newspaper announced, days after overseeing massive layoffs.

Will Lewis said it was the right time to leave, saying in a message to staff shared online that “difficult decisions” had been made to secure the future of the paper.

On Wednesday, the newspaper announced it was cutting a third of its staff, significantly reducing its coverage of sports and international news.

The move was condemned by many journalists and sparked criticism of the Post’s billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos. Editor Matt Murray said the cuts would provide “stability”.

Jeff D’Onofrio, who joined the paper as chief financial officer last year, will serve as publisher and interim CEO, the Post said in announcing Lewis’ departure.

A former chief executive of the Dow Jones and publisher of the Wall Street Journal, Lewis was named to the post at the Washington Post in 2023.

He faced criticism from subscribers and employees as he tried to reverse the paper’s financial losses.

Hundreds of people demonstrated Thursday in front of the newspaper’s headquarters in Washington, DC, after massive layoffswhich included the newspaper’s entire Middle East staff and its kyiv-based Ukraine correspondent.

Marty Baron, the Post’s editor-in-chief until 2021, said the cuts were “one of the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s largest news organizations.”

Lewis’ departure marks the latest upheaval for America’s leading newspaper, which has seen a series of staff cuts and controversial editorial decisions in recent years.

The newspaper had supported a candidate in most presidential elections since the 1970s – all Democrats.

The move sparked widespread criticism and led to the loss of tens of thousands of subscribers.

In the meantime, the opinion editor resigned in February of last year, when Bezos decided to focus the newspaper’s comments section on “personal freedoms and the free market.”

Bezos, who acquired the newspaper in 2013, said articles opposing those views would not be published.