The Washington Post is laying off 30% of its staff

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Yesterday, the Washington Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray, informed more than 300 of the paper’s 800 journalists that their jobs were being cut. The decimation of the newsroom is the latest round of layoffs under the ownership of billionaire Jeff Bezos. The newspaper that changed its slogan to “Democracy Dies in Darkness” in 2017 broke the news about 90 minutes after sunrise in DC. The gutting comes after years of losing money and subscribers under CEO Will Lewis, whom Bezos appointed in 2023: In October 2024, Bezos spiked the paper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris during the presidential election. The Post reported that the decision led to a loss of at least 250,000 subscribers. Lewis was installed to increase readership and grow the business, with a plan that included leaning on AI. He told staff in 2024 that the company had lost $177 million over the previous two years, in part due to declining web traffic from once-reliable sources like Google and Facebook. In June 2025, WaPo’s circulation fell below 100,000 for the first time in 55 years. What’s next? The move will drastically shrink the international section, all but erase the sports desk, and restructure the local metro section as the paper shifts its focus to national news and politics. The Post Guild, the staffers union, called for a change of ownership and will hold a rally today.