Washington Post CEO steps down amid mass layoffs
Photo: The Washington Post CEO William Lewis (Getty Images)
William Lewis, CEO and publisher of The Washington Post, is stepping down amid sweeping layoffs. The newspaper recently cut 30% of its staff,a ccording to The Washington Post White House bureau chief Matt Viser.
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“All - after two years of transformation at The Washington Post, now is the right time for me to step aside. I want to thank Jeff Bezos for his support and leadership throughout my tenure as CEO and Publisher. The institution could not have a better owner,” Lewis wrote.
He added that during his time in office, “difficult decisions” were made to secure the paper’s long-term sustainability, so that it could continue delivering “high-quality nonpartisan news to millions of customers each day.”
The newspaper’s chief financial officer, Jeff D’Onofrio, will assume interim leadership duties.
The Washington Post union said Lewis’s departure was “long overdue,” while also urging owner Jeff Bezos to reverse the layoffs.
Earlier reports revealed that The Washington Post plans to lay off more than 300 journalists and scale back its local, international, and sports desks as part of a major restructuring initiated by Bezos, who has argued that the outlet was “wasting money” and “failing to meet readers’ needs.”
Last fall, BBC Director General Tim Davie and News Director Deborah Terness resigned following a scandal involving the falsification of a speech by US President Donald Trump.
