The Washington Post announced it would lay off nearly 100 employees, or 4% of its workforce, to try to stem growing losses, according to media reports.
The cuts would primarily affect employees on the business side of the popular American newspaper owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The publication is one of many media outlets struggling in the digital age as a growing number of online platforms compete for advertising revenue.
The layoffs, announced Tuesday, come at a time of turmoil at the company after Mr. Bezos broke with tradition and blocked support for Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of November’s U.S. presidential election.
In 2023, The Washington Post reported losses of $77 million (£45 million) and a decline in readership on its website. The same year, the newspaper announced that it was offering employees voluntary departures with the aim of reducing the workforce by 10%.
Mr. Bezos wrote an opinion piece explaining that the endorsement block was necessary because of the growing public perception that “the media is biased.”
The newspaper nevertheless claims that 250,000 of its readers canceled their subscriptions in protest.
Since then, several high-profile journalists, including investigative reporter Josh Dawsey, who confirmed on X that he was accepting a position at the Wall Street Journal, have also left the paper. Editor Matea Gold is joining the Post’s competitor, the New York Times, the Times has confirmed.
The apparent conflict between Bezos and the paper’s top talent escalated Saturday when Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes announced she was resigning from the Washington Post.
This came after the newspaper refused to publish a satirical cartoon showing Mr Bezos and other tycoons kneeling in front of a statue of President-elect Donald Trump.
Last month, Mr. Bezos announced that Amazon would donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund and make a $1 million in-kind contribution. Mr. Bezos also described Trump’s victory as “an extraordinary political comeback” and had dinner with him at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
