Jeff Bezos is facing a fresh wave of criticism over his ownership of The Washington Post after the newspaper began laying off roughly a third of its staff, with cuts hitting the newsroom as well as other departments.
The layoffs, first reported by The New York Times, were described internally by staff as a “bloodbath,” and by former executive editor Martin Baron as “among the darkest days” in the paper’s history.
Highlights
- The Washington Post is laying off roughly a third of its staff, hitting local and international news, sports, and other departments.
- The cuts have been described as a “bloodbath” and newspaper owner Jeff Bezos has come under severe criticism.
- Bezos' relationship with President Donald Trump has been cited by many critics as a factor in the cuts.
- The Post’s union warned that hollowing out the newsroom risks its credibility and future, suggesting new leadership may be needed.
- Management cites financial losses and shifting consumer habits, with the paper losing $100 million in 2023 amid declining circulation.
“The Washington Post’s ambitions will be sharply diminished,” Baron said in a statement published online, which criticized “Bezos’s sickening efforts to curry favor with President Trump” and branded the cuts “a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.”
Jeff Bezos has come under criticism after deep cuts were announced at The Washington Post
Image credits: Getty Images
Meanwhile, sports media reporter Richard Deitsch described the cuts as “an absolute disgrace.”
“They gutted this outlet and the only people who will emerge wealthier are the ones who gutted it,” Deitsch wrote on X.
In a call and written note to Post staff, executive editor Matt Murray said the newspaper needed “a new way forward” because its structure remained too rooted in an era when it was a dominant local newspaper.
In another memo quoted by The Associated Press, Murray wrote: “We can’t be everything to everyone.”
The cuts include deep reductions across international, editing, metro, and sports, and come days after the Post scaled back plans to cover the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The paper is reportedly ending the current iteration of its sports desk, cutting its books desk, suspending its flagship daily news podcast Post Reports, reducing its international reporting operation, and restructuring local coverage—all while keeping a reduced number of foreign bureaus with a focus on national security.
The backlash has also revived a politically charged critique that has dogged Bezos’ ownership of the paper: that he is undermining a major accountability institution at a moment when he has incentives to stay in the good graces of President Donald Trump and his administration.
Baron, who led the newsroom through much of the first Trump term, has been among the most forceful voices making that case.
In comments cited by The New Yorker, Baron blamed what he called “ill-conceived decisions” from the very top, including Bezos’ move to stop the Post from endorsing Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and a sharp narrowing of the paper’s opinion section.
Jeff Bezos’ relationship with Donald Trump has come under scrutiny amid newspaper staff cuts
The current cuts represent a major reversal from Bezos’ earlier approach, having defended the Post’s aggressive journalism during Trump’s first term even as Trump attacked the paper and Bezos’ business interests.
However, Bezos appears to be much closer to Trump during his second administration, with a high-profile dinner held between the pair shortly before the president’s inauguration, while Amazon reportedly bankrolled the recently launched Melania Trump documentary to the tune of $40 million.
In the immediate fallout from the layoffs, the Post’s union said the cuts were not “inevitable,” warning that “a newsroom cannot be hollowed out without consequences for its credibility, its reach and its future,” and suggesting the paper may need “a steward” more committed to its mission if Bezos is not willing to invest.
Management and supporters, however, have framed the move as a blunt response to financial and audience realities. The Post has suffered major revenue reductions amid declining circulation in recent years, with losses reportedly hitting $100 million in 2023, and Murray told staff the company needed structural change as consumer habits and the economics of news continue to shift.
The newspaper reportedly had around 560 journalists when Bezos bought the outlet in 2013, before undergoing a significant period of growth, which saw staff headcount reportedly swell beyond 1,000.
However, losses over recent years have seen the newspaper undertake other less drastic cuts, including a staff buyout in late 2023 that saw many longer-term staff leave and the headcount reduced by approximately 240.