Washington Post publisher Will Lewis abruptly steps down days after massive layoffs gut the newspaper
By Andrew Kirell, Brian Stelter, CNN
(CNN) — The Washington Post’s publisher and CEO Will Lewis has abruptly stepped down, just days after the newspaper laid off one-third of its staff, including at least 300 journalists in the newsroom.
Post journalists, who believed Lewis had failed to turn around the publication’s fortunes, openly celebrated the news.
“After two years of transformation at The Washington Post, now is the right time for me to step aside,” Lewis wrote Saturday in a brief note to staff. “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.”
“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.
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.”
D’Onofrio wrote in a Saturday memo to staff that he is “honored 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.”
“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. “Each and every day our readers give us a roadmap to success. The data tells us what is valuable and where to focus.”
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.
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.
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.
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 in San Francisco, further stoking outrage among the newsroom.
A controversial tenure
Lewis’ time as publisher of the Post was controversial almost from the start.
He was named to the role in November 2023, promising to revive the business amid the paper’s ongoing financial struggles. Before joining the Post, Lewis had served as publisher of The Wall Street Journal, editor of The Daily Telegraph and a senior executive within Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
In December 2023, NPR reported that Lewis had been accused of being involved in efforts to cover up aspects of the early-2010s phone-hacking scandal at Murdoch’s UK tabloids. Lewis has denied any wrongdoing.
Months later, NPR reported that Lewis had attempted to dissuade the outlet from publishing that earlier story by offering an interview in exchange for killing it.
That revelation, along with claims that Lewis had squashed the Post’s own report on the allegations (which Lewis also denied), raised concerns among the Post’s newsroom about their new publisher’s journalistic ethics.
Around that same time, Lewis’ ouster of executive editor Sally Buzbee further inflamed tensions with the Post’s staff.
Lewis mostly retreated from view, though he tried to build new relationships with advertisers and bring a more entrepreneurial approach to the Post’s business side.
Lewis was thought to have spearheaded the brutal cuts that took place on Wednesday, but he did not communicate with the staff about it at all.
When asked about Lewis’ status on Wednesday, Post executive editor Matt Murray told CNN that Lewis “has been working to create alternative sources of revenue” and “working to develop different kinds of AI and product technology. Some of that’s experimental. I can’t say it’s all worked, but also, having an experimental mindset is part of what we needed.”
On Saturday evening, the Washington Post Guild, a union representing many newsroom staffers, 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.”
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