WashingtonPost CEO and publisher William Lewis is reportedly stepping down after firing hundreds of employees from the legendary newspaper.
Lewis reportedly announced the change in a memo sent Saturday WashingtonPost reporters on social media who shared images of the memo.
“All – after two years of transformation at The Washington Postnow is the right time for me to step aside. I want to thank Jeff Bezos for his support and leadership during my tenure as CEO and publisher. The institution could not have a better owner,” Lewis reportedly wrote in his email.
Bezos, the CEO of Amazon and owner of the WashingtonPostfaced sharp criticism after its newsroom staff was cut by an estimated 300 reporters earlier this week.
“During my term, difficult decisions have been made to secure the sustainable future of our planet The mail so it can continue to publish high-quality, unbiased news every day to millions of customers for many years to come,” Lewis said in the memo.
The Post said current CFO Jeff D’Onofrio — previously Tumblr’s CEO — will take over as acting publisher and CEO “effective immediately,” according to The Post. CNN.
In his own memo on Saturday, D’Onofrio wrote that he is “honored to take the helm as acting publisher and CEO to lead us into a sustainable, successful future with the power of our journalism as our north star.”
There is no mention in either memo of Lewis staying on during the transition period.
Bezos also released a statement Saturday discussing the newspaper’s future.
“The mail has a vital journalistic mission and an extraordinary opportunity,” Bezos wrote in his first statement since the firings. “Every day, our readers give us a roadmap to success. The data tells us what is valuable and what we should focus on.”
D’Onofrio, the paper’s editor-in-chief Matt Murray, and opinion editor Adam O’Neal, “are positioned to lead The mail into an exciting and prosperous next chapter,” said Bezos.
According to CNN, the newspaper’s reporters had not heard from Lewis during or after the firing announcement earlier this week, but he was spotted on a red carpet ahead of the Super Bowl.
Some reporters on social media were more than happy to see Lewis leave the paper.
“What Will Lewis has accomplished at @washingtonpost would be impressive if it weren’t so depressing. In just a few years, he’s caused hundreds of thousands of paying subscribers to cancel their subscriptions, tarnished the paper’s reputation, launched initiatives that have been hilariously inept failures, and now gutted the newsroom to create a product no one wants,” said Matt Bonesteel, a former WashingtonPost sports reporter, wrote on X.
He continued, saying Lewis “is a total failure and should be treated as such.”
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