Washington Post publisher and CEO Will Lewis steps down after mass layoffs

“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 wrote in a message to staff that was shared publicly by White House bureau chief Matt Viser.

Lewis, a former Dow Jones chief executive and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, was appointed to lead the Washington Post in 2023 as the newspaper grappled with steep financial losses.

He succeeded Fred Ryan, who served as publisher and CEO for nearly a decade.

Chief Financial Officer Jeff D’Onofrio will serve as acting publisher and CEO, the Post said. D’Onofrio joined the newspaper last June after holding senior roles at Google and Yahoo.

“Customer data will drive our decisions, sharpening our edge in delivering what is most valuable to our audiences,” D’Onofrio wrote in an email to staff on Saturday, as was reported in the media.

Unions representing Washington Post employees welcomed Lewis’ departure.

“Will Lewis’s exit is long overdue,” the Washington Post Guild said in a statement. “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.”

Jeff Bezos, who purchased the newspaper in 2013, described the leadership change as an opportunity.

“The Post has an essential journalistic mission and an extraordinary opportunity,” Bezos said, according to the newspaper. “Each and every day our readers give us a roadmap to success.”

Lewis’ exit comes after the Post cut about one-third of its employees across departments earlier this week.

The Washington Post building in Washington DC, USA. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

He faced criticism for being absent during the layoffs, which former executive editor Marty Baron called “among the darkest days” in the newspaper’s history.

During his tenure, Lewis oversaw multiple rounds of staff reductions and navigated significant subscriber losses following the Post’s decision to stop endorsing U.S. presidential candidates and to shift its opinion section toward a more libertarian stance.

His leadership was controversial even before those changes. A disagreement in 2024 with then–executive editor Sally Buzbee led to her departure, and Lewis later faced newsroom backlash over an attempt to hire British journalist Robert Winnett, a former colleague linked to a phone-hacking scandal that also involved Lewis. Additionally, a much-touted plan to create a “third newsroom” never materialized.

Former Wall Street Journal editor Matt Murray was eventually named permanent executive editor. Buzbee now serves as Reuters’ U.S. and Canada news editor.