Washington Post CEO resigns after going AWOL during massive job cuts

The Washington Post Publisher and Chief Executive Will Lewis announced Saturday evening he would depart after just two years at the paper, a tenure marked by controversy and crisis.

Lewis called his time “two years of transformation” in his resignation note, but it was defined by turbulence rather than a clear path, and it ended with brutal job cuts. The paper’s chief financial officer, Jeff D’Onofrio, will serve as acting CEO.

More than a third of the newsroom was laid off Wednesday after Lewis’ promises of radical innovations failed to staunch several years of annual losses in the tens of millions of dollars. At one point, losses hit $100 million, Lewis told staffers in June 2024 during a rocky newsroom all-staff. The session occurred just five months into his time at the Post. Yet it proved to be his final all-staff meeting.

He was effectively AWOL as the paper’s scope, ambitions and journalism were radically redefined and constricted. Lewis played no visible role in announcing the layoffs in a mandatory Zoom call for the newsroom on Wednesday. Nor did he publicly address the paper’s readers to allay their concerns.