Will Lewis, publisher and CEO of The Washington Post, announced Saturday that he is leaving the newspaper effective immediately.
In a note to staff shared online by White House bureau chief Matt Viser, Lewis said difficult choices had been made to “ensure the sustainable future of The Post” so it can continue to publish “high-quality nonpartisan news to millions of customers each day.” He added that it was “the right time for me to step aside.”
Lewis, a U.K. native who previously worked at The Wall Street Journal, joined The Washington Post in January 2024. His tenure became controversial after owner Jeff Bezos in October 2024 ordered the paper to withdraw a planned editorial endorsement that had been intended for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris rather than Donald Trump. That episode, and subsequent shifts toward a more conservative editorial stance, coincided with the loss of thousands of subscribers, the paper has said.
Jeff D’Onofrio, who became The Post’s chief financial officer last year, will succeed Lewis. In a note to staff, D’Onofrio wrote, “We are ending a hard week of change with more change.”
The announcement follows large-scale layoffs earlier in the week that drew sharp internal and public backlash. The cuts, while expected, were deeper than many anticipated and led to the shutdown of the paper’s sports section and steep reductions in foreign, metro and photo staffs.
The Post has not released an exact tally of journalists affected. The New York Times reported that roughly 300 reporters were laid off. Before the reductions, The Post employed about 800 journalists.
Unions representing Post staff said Lewis’ departure was warranted. The Washington Post Guild said, “Will Lewis’s exit is long overdue. His legacy will be the attempted destruction of a great American journalism institution. But it’s not too late to save the Post. Jeff Bezos must immediately rescind these layoffs or sell the paper to someone willing to invest in its future.” Hundreds of employees and supporters protested outside The Post’s Washington, D.C., headquarters on Thursday.
Martin Baron, the paper’s first editor under Bezos, criticized the owner this week, accusing him of trying to win favor with President Donald Trump and calling the situation “a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.”
The newsroom and management now face immediate questions about how the paper will operate after the staffing cuts, who will set its editorial direction, and whether owner Jeff Bezos will respond to calls from staff and unions to reverse the layoffs or consider a sale.
Edited by: Sean Sinico