Sunday 08 / February / 2026
Washington: Washington Post publisher and CEO Will Lewis is leaving the US newspaper effective immediately, he announced on Saturday.
"During my tenure, difficult decisions have been taken in order to ensure the sustainable future of The Post so it can for many years ahead publish high-quality nonpartisan news to millions of customers each day," Lewis wrote in a message to staff that was shared online by the newspaper's White House bureau chief, Matt Viser. Lewis also said it was "the right time for me to step aside."
Lewis, who was born in the UK, had previously been an executive at The Wall Street Journal before moving to the Washington Post in January 2024.
During his tenure, the newspaper lost thousands of subscribers after its owner, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, ordered The Post in October 2024 to withdraw its traditional editorial endorsement, which was to be for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and not Donald Trump.
Later shifts towards a more conservative editorial direction also led to more subscribers leaving the paper.
Lewis has been replaced by Jeff D'Onofrio, who had joined the Washington Post as chief financial officer last year, the paper said.
In a message to the paper's staff, D'Onofrio acknowledged, "We are ending a hard week of change with more change."
Mass layoffs spark uproar
Earlier this week, the paper announced massive job cuts.
The layoffs, although expected, were deeper than many had anticipated. They resulted in The Post's sports section being shut down, as well as deep cuts to the newspaper's foreign metro news coverage and its photo staff.
It is unclear exactly how many journalists have been let go as a result of the cuts. The Washington Post has not disclosed the number, but The New York Times has said around 300 reporters have been laid off. Before the layoffs, The Post had 800 journalists.
Unions representing Post employees called Lewis' departure necessary.
"Will Lewis’s exit is long overdue," The Washington Post Guild said in a statement. "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 people attended a protest on Thursday outside the newspaper's headquarters in Washington, DC.
Martin Baron, the Post’s first editor under Bezos, condemned his former boss this week, saying the billionaire was trying to win the favor of President Donald Trump and described the paper as "a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction."
