Washington Post publisher Will Lewis says he’s stepping down, days after big layoffs at the paper

Will Lewis Steps Down as Washington Post Publisher Amid Massive Staff Cuts

Washington Post publisher Will Lewis announced his resignation Saturday, just three days after the newspaper revealed plans to eliminate one-third of its workforce in a sweeping round of layoffs that has sent shockwaves through the journalism industry.

Lewis, who had only held the position since January 2024, informed staff via email that “difficult decisions have been taken in order to ensure the sustainable future of The Post.” His departure marks the end of a turbulent eight-month tenure that has been defined by organizational restructuring and financial struggles at the prestigious news organization.

Jeff D’Onofrio, who joined the Post as chief financial officer just last June, will serve as acting publisher and CEO while the company determines its next steps.

The timing of Lewis’s exit has drawn particular scrutiny as neither he nor billionaire owner Jeff Bezos participated in the staff meeting where the extensive layoffs were announced earlier this week. The absence of leadership during such a critical moment has fueled criticism from both current and former employees.

Lewis, a British executive who previously held top positions at The Wall Street Journal, faced challenges from the start of his brief tenure. His leadership was marked by multiple rounds of staff reductions and an unsuccessful reorganization plan that led to the departure of former executive editor Sally Buzbee, further destabilizing the newsroom.

The Post has also weathered significant subscriber losses in recent months following Bezos’s controversial decision to pull an anticipated editorial endorsement of Kamala Harris during the presidential campaign. Subsequent editorial changes aimed at pivoting the opinion pages in a more conservative direction have alienated portions of the paper’s traditionally liberal readership base.

While staff had been bracing for cuts, the scale of this week’s layoffs exceeded expectations, with entire departments gutted or eliminated entirely. The newspaper’s renowned sports section, which has covered Washington teams for decades and produced Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, will be completely shuttered. The Post will also significantly reduce its foreign and local coverage bureaus, areas that had long been considered strengths of the publication.

Perhaps most shocking to industry observers was the decision to lay off the newspaper’s entire photography staff, a move that signals a fundamental shift in how the historic publication will approach visual journalism moving forward.

Media analysts view these developments as part of a broader crisis facing the newspaper industry, which continues to struggle with declining print readership and challenges in monetizing digital content. The Post, despite being owned by one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, has reportedly lost tens of millions of dollars annually in recent years.

The Washington Post’s troubles come at a particularly precarious moment for American journalism. Over the past decade, more than 2,500 newspapers have closed nationwide, creating “news deserts” in many communities. Even prestigious legacy publications like the Post are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain traditional staffing levels and coverage areas in the current media landscape.

As the Post moves forward under interim leadership, questions remain about the publication’s long-term strategy and what further changes might be implemented to address its financial challenges. For now, a significantly reduced staff must navigate covering both national and local news with far fewer resources than before, all while the organization searches for a sustainable path forward.