Washington Post Publisher Will Lewis Resigns Days After One‑Third Staff Layoffs; CFO Jeff D’Onofrio Named Acting Publisher
Washington Post publisher Will Lewis resigned in a brief two‑paragraph email days after the paper enacted sweeping layoffs that cut roughly one‑third of staff — eliminating the entire sports department and photography unit and sharply reducing metro and foreign coverage — and Chief Financial Officer Jeff D’Onofrio was named acting publisher and CEO effective immediately. The departure heightened internal and public backlash over Lewis’ and owner Jeff Bezos’ absence at the staff meeting announcing the cuts, drew criticism from former editor Martin Baron and the Post Guild, and comes amid reporting that ties subscriber losses to Bezos’ late‑2024 editorial interventions and scrutiny of past ethics concerns in Lewis’ U.K. reporting; Bezos issued a statement backing the new leadership team.
📌 Key Facts
- Washington Post publisher Will Lewis resigned three days after the paper enacted mass layoffs affecting about one‑third of its staff; in a brief email/memo he called his two years a 'transformation' and said 'now is the right time for me to step aside.'
- The Post named Chief Financial Officer Jeff D’Onofrio acting publisher and CEO effective immediately; his internal memo described the changes as responses to industry‑wide 'economic headwinds' and pledged to 'secure both the legacy and business' of the paper.
- Owner Jeff Bezos issued a statement backing D’Onofrio along with Matt Murray and Adam O’Neal as the leadership team to 'lead The Post into an exciting and thriving next chapter'; Murray defended the restructuring, saying the 'Save the Post' phrase originated with Bezos and that Lewis was closely engaged.
- The layoffs eliminated the entire sports section and the photography staff and sharply cut metro Washington and foreign coverage, with reporting noting foreign coverage is being scaled back.
- Staff and observers criticized Lewis and Bezos for largely being absent when executive editor Matt Murray announced the layoffs; the Washington Post Guild called Lewis’s exit 'long overdue' and urged Bezos either to rescind the cuts or sell the paper to someone willing to invest.
- Former editor Martin Baron publicly condemned Bezos’s role, saying Bezos’s late‑2024 decision to pull back from a planned Kamala Harris endorsement and to reorient the opinion section more conservatively helped drive subscriber losses and amounted to 'near‑instant, self‑inflicted brand destruction.'
- Lewis’s tenure featured preexisting morale problems — including a blunt 2024 remark that 'people are not reading your stuff' — and was shadowed by earlier ethics questions over Lewis’s and Robert Winnett’s past use of paid information in U.K. reporting, issues that helped sink Lewis’s initial reorganization and a failed Winnett succession plan.
📊 Analysis & Commentary (1)
Dems want the Bad Bunny playbook
"The Playbook column uses the abrupt ouster of Washington Post publisher Will Lewis as a news hook and argues Democrats should seize Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl moment to craft culturally resonant, sustained outreach to Latino voters while criticizing Lewis’s stewardship and the optics that likely led to his removal."
📰 Source Timeline (7)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
February 08, 2026
4:53 PM
Days after big layoffs at The Washington Post, publisher Will Lewis says he's stepping down
New information:
- PBS/AP piece details that the layoffs eliminated the entire sports section, the photography staff, and sharply cut metro Washington and foreign coverage.
- It ties the subscriber collapse to Bezos’ late‑2024 decision to pull back from a planned Kamala Harris endorsement and to reorient the opinion section in a more conservative direction.
- Former editor Martin Baron is quoted calling the Bezos era at the Post “a case study in near‑instant, self‑inflicted brand destruction,” accusing him of currying favor with Trump.
- The Washington Post Guild states Lewis’ exit is “long overdue” and urges Bezos to rescind the layoffs or sell the paper to someone willing to invest.
- The article recaps the failed Winnett succession plan and the ethics concerns over Lewis and Winnett’s U.K. record of paying for information, noted as unacceptable in U.S. journalism norms.
12:53 AM
Washington Post publisher Will Lewis says he's stepping down, days after big layoffs at the paper
New information:
- Confirms Lewis announced his departure in a two-paragraph email to staff, saying that after 'two years of transformation' it was 'the right time for me to step aside.'
- Details that neither Lewis nor owner Jeff Bezos appeared at the all-hands meeting announcing layoffs, which cut one-third of staff and shut down the sports section and photo staff while slashing metro and foreign coverage.
- Links the paper’s subscriber losses to Bezos’ late-2024 intervention pulling back from an endorsement of Kamala Harris and shifting the opinion section in a more conservative direction.
- Quotes former editor Martin Baron condemning Bezos for trying to curry favor with Donald Trump and calling the Post under Bezos 'a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.'
- Reiterates ethics questions around Lewis’s and Robert Winnett’s past use of paid information in U.K. reporting, which helped sink Lewis’s initial reorganization and Buzbee’s succession plan.
- Includes D’Onofrio’s internal memo framing the Post’s situation as part of industry-wide 'economic headwinds' and pledging to navigate change together.
February 07, 2026
11:55 PM
Washington Post publisher Will Lewis resigns just days after paper enacts mass layoffs
New information:
- Confirms timing that Lewis resigned three days after the Post laid off about one-third of its staff.
- Details that foreign coverage is being scaled back and that the sports section is being shut down as part of the cuts.
- Adds on-the-record criticism from former executive editor Martin Baron, including his view that the 2024 decision not to endorse a presidential candidate hurt the paper’s reputation and that Jeff Bezos has prioritized Amazon and Blue Origin over the Post.
11:33 PM
Washington Post publisher Will Lewis says he's stepping down, days after the Post cut a third of its staff
New information:
- Confirms again that Washington Post publisher Will Lewis is stepping down.
- Reiterates that the move comes just days after the Post cut about one‑third of its staff.
11:29 PM
Washington Post CEO steps downs amid onslaught of backlash following mass layoffs
New information:
- Lewis’ resignation memo quotes: he calls his two years a 'transformation' and says 'now is the right time for me to step aside.'
- The Post formally names Chief Financial Officer Jeff D’Onofrio as acting CEO and publisher, effective immediately, and includes his first public statement about 'securing both the legacy and business' of the paper.
- Jeff Bezos issues a statement backing D’Onofrio, Matt Murray and Adam O’Neal as the leadership team to 'lead The Post into an exciting and thriving next chapter.'
- The article reiterates that the layoffs eliminated the entire sports department and impacted about a third of staff, and notes Bezos and Lewis were criticized for being absent while Murray delivered the news.
11:29 PM
Washington Post CEO steps down amid onslaught of backlash following mass layoffs
New information:
- Fox piece emphasizes the internal backlash to Lewis and Bezos for being largely absent as executive editor Matt Murray announced layoffs that cut about one-third of staff.
- Provides additional on-record defense from Murray, who says the phrase 'Save the Post' originally came from Jeff Bezos and that Lewis was closely engaged in the restructuring.
- Reiterates that morale problems at the Post predated the layoffs and notes Lewis’ rocky start, including his blunt 'people are not reading your stuff' remark to staff in 2024.