Washington: Washington Post Publisher and CEO Will Lewis announced his resignation on Saturday, just days after the newspaper executed sweeping layoffs that eliminated approximately one-third of its workforce.
Lewis, who was appointed in 2023 to stem the publication's steep financial losses, addressed the staff in a message shared online. "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," he wrote.
Jeff D'Onofrio, the newspaper's Chief Financial Officer, will assume the role of acting publisher and CEO. D'Onofrio, who joined the Post last June after tenures at Google and Yahoo, signaled a strategic pivot in his first email to employees, stating that "customer data will drive our decisions, sharpening our edge in delivering what is most valuable to our audiences."
The leadership shakeup follows a brutal week for the organization. The layoffs implemented on Wednesday affected every department, a move former executive editor Marty Baron described as "among the darkest days" in the newspaper's history. Lewis faced intense criticism for his absence during the execution of the cuts.
The Washington Post Guild welcomed the resignation, calling Lewis's exit "long overdue." In a scathing statement, the union said his legacy would be "the attempted destruction of a great American journalism institution" and called on owner Jeff Bezos to immediately rescind the layoffs or sell the paper. Bezos, who purchased the Post in 2013, characterized the transition as an "extraordinary opportunity," emphasizing that readers provide the "roadmap to success."
Lewis’s brief tenure was marked by significant turbulence beyond the recent job cuts. The newspaper suffered a massive loss of subscribers after deciding to stop endorsing US presidential candidates and shifting its opinion section toward a more libertarian stance. Additionally, Lewis faced internal backlash following the departure of executive editor Sally Buzbee and a controversial attempt to hire British journalist Robert Winnett, a move that drew scrutiny over past phone-hacking allegations involving both men.