The Washington Post told employees on Wednesday that it would begin sweeping layoffs across nearly all news departments, marking another major turning point for the newspaper under owner Jeff Bezos.
The reductions follow weeks of internal anxiety and public speculation, with hundreds of employees expected to lose their jobs as the paper confronts mounting financial pressures and declining output.
Editors said the cuts are part of a broader effort to reshape the newsroom and refocus coverage after years of staff reductions and leadership upheaval.
The size of the layoffs was not immediately disclosed, but employees and managers said roughly one-third of the workforce could be affected.
Sections including sports, metro, books and international coverage were hit particularly hard, while the current iteration of the sports desk and the books desk were ended.
Local coverage was restructured, international reporting scaled back, and the newspaper’s flagship daily podcast Post Reports was suspended.
Executive Editor Matt Murray said the paper would concentrate on areas demonstrating “authority, distinctiveness, and impact,” including politics, national security, science, technology and business.
Approximately 12 international bureaus will remain, with an emphasis on national security reporting.
Laid-off employees will remain on staff through April 10 and receive six months of continued health insurance coverage.
The layoffs cap an unsettled 18 months that included buyouts, leadership changes and a controversial decision to block a planned presidential endorsement before the 2024 election.
Former executive editor Marty Baron said the cuts would sharply diminish the paper’s ambitions and weaken its ability to deliver ground-level reporting.
The Washington Post Guild said the workforce has shrunk by roughly 400 people in three years and argued the reductions were not inevitable.
Journalists and alumni rallied publicly under the hashtag #SaveThePost, urging Bezos to continue investing in the newsroom.
Management acknowledged financial strain, with the paper losing an estimated $100 million in 2024, and framed the layoffs as necessary to compete in an increasingly crowded media landscape.
Union leaders announced a protest outside the paper’s Washington headquarters, signaling that tensions between staff and ownership remain unresolved.