Political news publisher The Washington Post began laying off 4% of its staff on Tuesday, the latest in a series of headaches that have hit the storied outlet over the past year.
The reductions, which will affect fewer than 100 employees in total, will apply primarily to advertising sales, branding and IT teams, according to The New York Times. The Post isn’t the only publisher seeking savings in recent months.Vox Media And Conde Nastamong other things, cut staff in the last weeks of the year.
The impending cuts were first reported by Status. A representative for The Post did not respond to a request for comment.
The layoffs mark another blow for the struggling publisher, which just four years ago rivaled The New York Times in total subscribers and national awareness.
But after former President Trump left office in 2020, ending a relentless cycle of unprecedented political news, the two media outlets took divergent paths.
The Times has decided to diversify its content portfolio by acquiring Athletics in 2021 and Wordle in 2022, both of which he has used to build a robust library of lifestyle offerings. The Post, for its part, failed to account in the same way for the evolution of consumer information preferences after the first Trump presidency. The Post also faces more challenges than most text-first publishers, said media analyst David Spiegel.
“They bet on how to diversify their revenues, but it seems that none of them managed to compensate for the sharp decline in printing revenues,” Spiegel continued. “This loss is compounded by aggressive growth projections for the digital sector that have been strained by persistent declines in search and social traffic, as well as adtech’s massive approach to brand safety that makes real journalism almost impossible to profit from advertising. »
The Post hired a new editor, former Associated Press executive Sally Buzzbee, in 2021, and parted ways with its longtime chief executive and publisher, Fred Ryan, in 2023. In consultation with its Billionaire owner Jeff Bezos, the newspaper then recruited media veteran Will Lewis to replace Ryan.
This decision – taken a year ago this month – has had serious consequences. Under Lewis’ leadership, The Post suffered many setbacks. After losing about $77 million in 2023, it lost about $100 million in 2024, according to Vanity Fair.
Lewis’ plan to launch a “third newsroom” and assigning Buzzbee to lead it backfiredwhile the de facto demotion led Buzzbee to leave the outlet in June 2024. The Post attempted to replace her that month, but Lewis’s first choice for the job, Robert Winnett, reversed his acceptance after having reported resurfacing his proximity to a phone. computer hacking scandal in which Lewis himself is entangled.
The situation worsened significantly during the presidential election when the Post decided not to support either candidate for the first time in decades. Both Bezos and Lewis called the move a return to journalistic impartiality, but the choice angered staff.
Since then, the famous media outlet has seen an exodus of its top talent. Reporters and editors, including Josh Dawsey, Ashley Parker, Tyler Pager and Michael Scherer, fled to competitors, including the New York Times, The Atlantic, the Washington Post and Politico.
This refusal also led to a wave of subscription cancellations, with more than 250,000 subscribers canceling their payments.
“The loss of 250,000 subscribers as a result of the Post’s refusal exposed the fragilities of the subscription model,” said Abi Watson, senior research analyst at Enders Analysis. “Acting in a way that is contrary to a publisher’s perceived values (democracy dies in obscurity, etc.) will turn off subscribers because it will effectively act against their own personal values.”
Bezos, Lewis and the Post’s leadership team have yet to say much publicly about their vision for the publisher’s turnaround. And now, with its advertising, marketing and technology teams shrinking, its business capabilities will be similarly reduced.
