‘Bloodbath’ at the Washington Post as roughly one-third of the staff is laid off by Jeff Bezos
Washington Post announces mass layoffs affecting a third of its staff
- The Washington Post is laying off a third of its staff in a brutal blow to the legendary journalism brand.
- Executive editor Matt Murray told employees about the job cuts in a Zoom meeting Wednesday. The sports department has been eliminated and the newspaper will scale back the number of journalists overseas.
- The exact number of layoffs was not immediately disclosed, but staff were informed they would receive emails with one of two subject lines, announcing that the person’s role has or hasn’t been eliminated. They slammed the job cuts as a “bloodbath.”
- The layoffs follow a period of financial difficulty for the newspaper, which has been experiencing a decline in subscribers. Employees begged owner Jeff Bezos to call off the layoffs, with some attributing subscriber losses to his decisions, such as a perceived conservative shift in opinion pages and a retraction of an endorsement for Kamala Harris.
- “The Washington Post is taking a number of difficult but decisive actions today for our future, in what amounts to a significant restructuring across the company," a Post spokesperson said. "These steps are designed to strengthen our footing and sharpen our focus on delivering the distinctive journalism that sets The Post apart and, most importantly, engages our customers.”
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