The Washington Post Publisher and Chief Executive Will Lewis announced Saturday evening he would depart after just two years at the paper, a tenure marked by controversy and crisis.
Lewis called his time “two years of transformation” in his resignation note, but it was defined by turbulence rather than a clear path, and it ended with brutal job cuts. The paper’s chief financial officer, Jeff D’Onofrio, will serve as acting CEO.
More than a third of the newsroom was laid off Wednesday after Lewis’ promises of radical innovations failed to staunch several years of annual losses in the tens of millions of dollars. At one point, losses hit $100 million, Lewis told staffers in June 2024 during a rocky newsroom all-staff. The session occurred just five months into his time at the Post. Yet it proved to be his final all-staff meeting.
The goal of Bezos was always to undermine the paper. You should watch this week’s Washington Week roundtable, if nothing more the final few minutes when they discuss the paper’s collapse.
“failed to staunch…”
His and Bezos’ actions led to much greater losses, which they’re now using as excuses for the firings. $100 million sounds like a lot until you realize how many years Bezos’ could afford to cover it, if he didn’t prefer to gut the newsroom.
May the whole thing go under, and may it go quickly
