The Washington Post on Wednesday carried out one of the deepest single rounds of newsroom cuts in its modern history.
The billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned company eliminated more than 300 jobs, roughly a third of its staff, and shutting entire sections as top editors move to stem mounting losses.
Executives are pitching the move as a “strategic reset” that narrows the paper’s ambition around politics, national security, and a handful of core beats.
Washington Post layoffs: Tech, search and shrinking revenue
Executive editor Matt Murray told staff on a morning Zoom call that “substantial newsroom reductions” would hit nearly every news department, part of a broader restructuring.
The aim is to put the Post “on a stronger footing” in a rapidly changing media landscape.
Reports from multiple outlets say the cuts will affect just over 300 positions, or close to 30% of the workforce.
In a memo to employees, Murray pointed directly to a business model under strain.
The paper has racked up tens of millions of dollars in annual losses, including around 100 million dollars in 2023, even after earlier buyout rounds that removed roughly 240 staffers.
More recently, he wrote, platforms that once powered the Post’s growth are faltering.
“Platforms like Google Search that were key to our success are declining,” noting the Post’s organic search traffic has fallen by nearly half in the last three years.”
That slide has been widely linked across the industry to AI-generated overviews and zero‑click answers that keep users inside search rather than sending them to news sites.
CEO and publisher Will Lewis has previously warned that those AI-driven changes pose “a serious threat to journalism.”
The warning echoed complaints from peers who say Google’s evolution from a search engine to an “answer engine” is eroding audiences and forcing cuts.
What’s being lost: Sports, foreign bureaus and newsroom capacity
The most visible casualty is sports.
Murray said the Post will close its sports department “in its current form,” retaining only a small group of reporters who will move into features to cover sports as culture and society.
The standalone Books section is being shut down, and the flagship daily news podcast “Post Reports” will be suspended.
International coverage is being pared back, with some foreign bureaus closed and the overall overseas footprint trimmed to “close to a dozen locations,” down from a far more expansive network.
Local news is also being squeezed. The Metro desk, which once had more than 40 staffers covering Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, is expected to be cut to around a dozen journalists.
Technology and business coverage are being hit as well.
The Washington Post Guild, which represents newsroom employees, blasted the decision and linked it directly to Bezos’s willingness to bankroll the paper.
“These layoffs are not unavoidable. A newsroom cannot be diminished without repercussions for its credibility, reach, and future,” the union said.
It added that if Bezos “is unwilling to invest in the mission that has defined this paper for generations…the Post deserves a steward that will.”
Industry-wide, the cuts fit a grim pattern.
Major outlets from Business Insider to regional dailies have blamed steep declines in search traffic and the shift to AI summaries for job losses, as publishers scramble to rebuild direct relationships with readers.
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