Publisher of Bezos' Washington Post leaves after mass layoffs

Will Lewis, publisher and CEO of The Washington Post, is leaving the newspaper, it was announced on Saturday following extensive layoffs this week.

"During my tenure, difficult decisions have been made to ensure a sustainable future for the newspaper so that it can continue to publish quality, independent news for millions of customers every day," Lewis wrote in a message to employees.

Lewis, former CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of the Wall Street Journal, was appointed to the Washington Post in 2023 as the newspaper suffered heavy financial losses.

Jeff D'Onofrio, chief financial officer of the newspaper owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, will serve as interim publisher and CEO, the WP said. He joined the newspaper in June last year after holding various positions at Google and Yahoo.

Lewis' departure came a few days after the Post laid off about a third of its staff, affecting all departments of the newspaper. The exact number of positions eliminated is unknown, but according to the New York Times, about 300 of the 800 journalists lost their jobs.

During his tenure at the newspaper, he also had to deal with the loss of hundreds of thousands of subscribers after the newspaper stopped supporting US presidential candidates and shifted the focus of its opinion section to a libertarian approach.

(reuters, im)