{"id":273954,"date":"2026-02-08T15:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/273954\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T15:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:23:07","slug":"washington-post-publisher-will-lewis-steps-down-days-after-massive-layoffs-gut-the-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/273954\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Post publisher Will Lewis steps down days after massive layoffs gut the newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Andrew Kirella and Brian Stelter, CNN<\/p>\n

\"WASHINGTON,<\/p>\n

\nDC residents who read the Washington Post join members of the guild to protest during a rally outside the Washington Post office building on 5 February 2026.
\nPhoto: Heather Diehl \/ Getty Images \/ AFP\n<\/p>\n

The Washington Post’s publisher, Will Lewis, has stepped down, just days after the newspaper laid off one-third of its newsroom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“After two years of transformation at The Washington Post, now is the right time for me to step aside,” Lewis wrote Saturday afternoon in a brief note to staff.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

“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’ note concluded.<\/p>\n

The Post said that CFO Jeff D’Onofrio, the former CEO of Tumblr who joined the Post in June, will take over as acting publisher and CEO, “effective immediately.”<\/p>\n

D’Onofrio wrote in a Saturday memo to staff that he is “honoured to take the helm as acting Publisher and CEO to lead us into a sustainable, successful future with the strength of our journalism as our north star.”<\/p>\n

“The Post has an essential journalistic mission and an extraordinary opportunity,” Bezos, the paper’s owner, said in a statement – his first since the layoffs.<\/p>\n

“Each and every day, your readers give us a roadmap to success. The data tells us what is valuable and where to focus.”<\/p>\n

D’Onofrio, along with executive editor Matt Murray and Opinion editor Adam O’Neal, “are positioned to lead The Post into an exciting and thriving next chapter,” Bezos said.<\/p>\n

Saturday evening’s unusual announcement made no mention of Lewis staying on board in any capacity to support the transition, suggesting a very sudden change.<\/p>\n

Lewis had lost the confidence of the Post newsroom long ago, and during this week’s layoffs, some staffers said the situation had become increasingly untenable.<\/p>\n

The Post’s staff hadn’t seen or heard from Lewis during or after Wednesday’s layoffs, but he was spotted Thursday walking the red carpet at a glitzy pre-Super Bowl event, further stoking outrage among the newsroom.<\/p>\n

– CNN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Andrew Kirella and Brian Stelter, CNN DC residents who read the Washington Post join members of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[48,138,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-273954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-current-affairs","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-podcasts","16":"tag-public-radio","17":"tag-radio-new-zealand","18":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}