‘Washington Put up’ CEO Will Lewis resigns after large layoffs introduced : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4818x3212+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fec%2Ff7%2F7d7ceac54e7887bcf45c3efd40e1%2Fwapo-protest-democracy-dies-sign.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4818x3212+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fec%2Ff7%2F7d7ceac54e7887bcf45c3efd40e1%2Fwapo-protest-democracy-dies-sign.jpg" class="img" alt="Sarah Kaplan, a Washington Post journalist, protests outside of the newspaper's headquarters on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. That same day, CEO Will Lewis was photographed at the NFL Honors in San Francisco." fetchpriority="high"/> Sarah Kaplan, a Washington Put up journalist, protests outdoors of the newspaper's headquarters on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. That very same day, CEO Will Lewis was photographed on the NFL Honors in San Francisco. Allison Robbert/AP/FR172296 AP conceal caption

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Allison Robbert/AP/FR172296 AP The Washington Put up Writer and Chief Government Will Lewis introduced Saturday night he would depart after simply two years on the paper, a tenure marked by controversy and disaster.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2400x3000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc1%2F7a%2F3d4923e742f1a6363104ddbbbc71%2Fgettyimages-1763975929.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2400x3000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc1%2F7a%2F3d4923e742f1a6363104ddbbbc71%2Fgettyimages-1763975929.jpg" class="img" alt="'Washington Post' Publisher and CEO Will Lewis resigned Saturday, just days after massive layoffs at the newspaper." loading="lazy"/> Washington Put up Writer and CEO Will Lewis resigned Saturday, simply days after large layoffs on the newspaper. Photograph by Elliott O'Donovan for The Washington Put up by way of Getty Pictures conceal caption

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Photograph by Elliott O'Donovan for The Washington Put up by way of Getty Pictures Lewis known as his time "two years of transformation" in his resignation observe, nevertheless it was outlined by turbulence moderately than a transparent path, and it ended with brutal job cuts. The paper's chief monetary officer, Jeff D'Onofrio, will function appearing CEO.

Greater than a 3rd of the newsroom was laid off Wednesday after Lewis' guarantees of radical improvements didn't staunch a number of years of annual losses within the tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}. At one level, losses hit $100 million, Lewis informed staffers in June 2024 throughout a rocky newsroom all-staff. The session occurred simply 5 months into his time on the Put up. But it proved to be his closing all-staff assembly.

He was successfully AWOL because the paper's scope, ambitions and journalism have been radically redefined and constricted. Lewis performed no seen position in asserting the layoffs in a compulsory Zoom name for the newsroom on Wednesday. Nor did he publicly tackle the paper's readers to allay their considerations.

The coup de grâce got here only a day later when Lewis was photographed in Northern California strolling a purple carpet at a Tremendous Bowl occasion.

The newsroom had misplaced a lot religion in Lewis that, in latest weeks, journalists appealed immediately in letters to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the paper's proprietor, to spare the paper from cuts and assist it discover monetary stability. Bezos didn't reply to these appeals.

As NPR has beforehand reported, the sports activities desk was eradicated; the native information workers lowered to a few dozen from greater than 40; the worldwide desk decimated. Among the many layoffs: your entire Center East group, the Ukraine bureau chief and one other warfare correspondent. The latter posted she obtained the e-mail informing her of her job loss whereas she was in a warfare zone.

Government Editor Matt Murray informed staffers on Wednesday he hopes the paper will keep a "presence" in 12 places across the globe. 4 folks with data of the still-evolving plans say that presence is prone to rely considerably on native stringers. (They declined to talk on the document because the exact particulars of who's to be retained had but to be resolved.) Lewis, Murray and Bezos have declined remark in regards to the layoffs by their spokespersons.

Murray informed staffers the paper will give attention to U.S. politics and nationwide safety in addition to well being, wellness, and different topics through which readers have proven robust curiosity. The newsroom will stand at about 500 folks.

Bezos promised an thrilling and thriving subsequent chapter for the paper in an announcement issued by the corporate Saturday night. It's his first public remark in a while.

"The Put up has a necessary journalistic mission and a unprecedented alternative," Bezos wrote. "Each day our readers give us a roadmap to success. The information tells us what is efficacious and the place to focus."

In the identical press launch, the brand new CEO paid homage to the newspaper's legacy.

"The Put up's resolute dedication to writing the primary tough draft of historical past anchors and imprints its future," mentioned D'Onofrio, the brand new chief govt and writer. "I'm honored to change into a part of charting that future and to take the lead in securing each the legacy and enterprise of this fierce, storied American establishment."

"One thing I might be most happy with" <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3977x2771+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffc%2F0c%2F34b791cf4cc7a7a1790869702555%2Fgettyimages-175678445.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3977x2771+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffc%2F0c%2F34b791cf4cc7a7a1790869702555%2Fgettyimages-175678445.jpg" class="img" alt="The front page of The Washington Post on August 6, 2013 marked the news that the Graham family, which had owned the newspaper for generations, was selling it to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos." loading="lazy"/> The entrance web page of The Washington Put up on August 6, 2013 marked the information that the Graham household, which had owned the newspaper for generations, was promoting it to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. KAREN BLEIER/AFP by way of Getty Pictures/AFP conceal caption

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KAREN BLEIER/AFP by way of Getty Pictures/AFP Bezos, one of many wealthiest folks on the planet, had been hailed as a savior when he purchased the Put up from the Graham household in 2013. The newspaper was falling into the identical cycle of decline that had so many metro dailies.

And he mentioned it could be a generational funding.

"My stewardship of The Put up and my assist of its mission, which is able to stay loyal, is one thing I might be most happy with after I'm 90 and reviewing my life," Bezos wrote in 2019, when his private life turned the topic of tabloid fodder.

He invested deeply within the firm and promised to not intervene in information protection, regardless of his huge enterprise pursuits. And, he by no means did — even if his huge enterprise pursuits may very well be the topic of reports reviews — in keeping with a number of present and former senior information executives, together with Marty Baron. Baron, who led the paper to nice heights in masking President Trump's first time period, wrote in his memoir that the paper loved six straight years of earnings.

The strategy got here at a value to Bezos: Trump, who typically denounced the paper because the "Amazon Washington Put up," took umbrage when Amazon was anticipated to land a $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon. Microsoft received it once more; Amazon sued, claiming Trump had interfered.

The case was in the end settled after the Pentagon break up the contract amongst 4 firms, together with Amazon, however its take was far smaller.

The Put up's earnings turned to losses and Bezos's strategy modified. When it turned clear in summer season 2023 that former Put up Writer Fred Ryan didn't have the solutions to rising purple ink, Bezos pressured him out.

Deft at dealing with conservative powerhouses <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2319+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F69%2F05%2F00e578b14c3c9361fec065d5573b%2Fgettyimages-119263501.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2319+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F69%2F05%2F00e578b14c3c9361fec065d5573b%2Fgettyimages-119263501.jpg" class="img" alt="Will Lewis, left, accompanies Rupert Murdoch — his boss at the time — on July 15, 2011 in London, England. The company was embroiled in a massive phone hacking scandal at the time." loading="lazy"/> Will Lewis, left, accompanies Rupert Murdoch — his boss on the time — on July 15, 2011 in London, England. The corporate was embroiled in a large cellphone hacking scandal on the time. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Pictures/Getty Pictures Europe conceal caption

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Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Pictures/Getty Pictures Europe By that fall, Bezos had settled on Lewis, a Brit who had made his identify within the hard-charging world of Fleet Road journalism.

As NPR has beforehand reported, Lewis proved enticing to Bezos on a number of grounds. Lewis had led the Wall Road Journal as writer and chief govt for six years because it discovered robust monetary footing with its paywall.

Lewis additionally knew learn how to deal with outsized conservative personalities, having labored for media mogul Rupert Murdoch in each Britain and the U.S. and, later, serving as a advisor to then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

However a British scandal continued to canine Lewis.

As NPR reported simply weeks earlier than Lewis began on the Put up, a gaggle of plaintiffs suing Murdoch's British tabloids in London argued in courtroom that Lewis was on the coronary heart of a concerted effort to cover proof of criminality on the papers. Lewis stood accused within the civil instances of searching for to guard Murdoch's prime executives.

Lewis pressured NPR to drop the story, then provided an inducement: an unique one-on-one interview about his future plans for the paper.

After NPR revealed and broadcast its story, Lewis repeatedly warned the Put up's govt editor on the time, Sally Buzbee, towards letting her workers pursue the community's reporting about him. The Put up nonetheless revealed vital reporting late the next spring.

Quickly after, Lewis provided Buzbee a brand new place. She noticed it as a demotion and left the newspaper. He employed an previous good friend from his British modifying days for the highest information job. However questions on their previous conduct in London, as reported in NPR, the Put up and the New York Instances, torpedoed that appointment.

"Ailing-conceived selections that got here from the very prime" <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5291x3527+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8f%2Fa9%2F1c61c97743c99b991f3766c13021%2Fgettyimages-2194962807.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5291x3527+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8f%2Fa9%2F1c61c97743c99b991f3766c13021%2Fgettyimages-2194962807.jpg" class="img" alt="Jeff Bezos, second from right, sits with then-Nominee for Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Kimberly Thune at a luncheon following the second inauguration of President Trump on January 20, 2025." loading="lazy"/> Jeff Bezos, second from proper, sits with then-Nominee for Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, U.S. Senate Majority Chief John Thune (R-SD) and Kimberly Thune at a luncheon following the second inauguration of President Trump on January 20, 2025. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Pictures/Getty Pictures North America conceal caption

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Kevin Dietsch/Getty Pictures/Getty Pictures North America That October, the paper ready to publish an editorial endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president. Bezos killed the story simply days earlier than the November election. Trump received. Amazon gave $1 million towards Trump's inauguration prices; Bezos and his fiancee — now spouse — sat on the dais behind Trump alongside different digital chieftains.

A couple of weeks after, in February 2025, Bezos ordered a change within the paper's editorial web page to focus totally on "private liberties and free markets." The revamp matched Bezos' personal inclinations. It was additionally much less prone to yield criticism of Trump. The editorial web page editor resigned.

Lewis was unable to speak Bezos out of the modifications; as NPR first reported, subscribers fled the paper in droves. All informed, there have been greater than 375,000 cancellations — a lack of 15% of the paper's digital subscribers in just some months.

Put up journalists requested Lewis and Bezos to not maintain the ensuing monetary losses towards the newsroom and opinion pages. These pleas, like others that might observe, fell on deaf ears.

After listening to information of the layoffs Wednesday, Baron revealed a scathing assertion. The Put up's challenges, he mentioned, "have been made indefinitely worse by ill-conceived selections that got here from the very prime."

Bezos has spoken affirmingly of Trump's return to energy publicly. Most just lately, he welcomed Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to his area firm, Blue Origin. It has a multi-billion greenback contract with NASA. Bezos says his enterprise pursuits don't have an effect on his curiosity within the paper.

Put up journalists rallied outdoors the paper's headquarters in Washington Thursday to protest the job cuts. Within the leafy neighborhood of Georgetown, somebody had taped a flyer to a submit. It learn, "WANTED FOR DESTROYING THE WASHINGTON POST," above a photograph of Lewis.

Lewis curtly and cheerfully introduced his departure in a observe to workers late Saturday.

"All - after two years of transformation at The Washington Put up, now could be the appropriate time for me to step apart," he wrote. Lewis mentioned the paper couldn't have a greater proprietor than Bezos.

He added: "Throughout my tenure, troublesome selections have been taken with a purpose to make sure the sustainable way forward for The Put up so it may well for a few years forward publish high-quality nonpartisan information to thousands and thousands of shoppers every day."

The observe was headed: "No topic."

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