The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has cut more than 300 jobs – about 30% of its staff – the New York Times reports.
The Post announced on Wednesday that it was commencing mass layoffs, which are expected to decimate the sports team, local news, and international coverage.
According to two anonymous sources of the NYT, people on the business side will be impacted, and more than 300 of the roughly 800 journalists in the newsroom.
A Post spokesperson said in an email: “The Washington Post is taking a number of difficult but decisive actions today for our future, in what amounts to a significant restructuring across the company. These steps are designed to strengthen our footing and sharpen our focus on delivering the distinctive journalism that sets The Post apart and, most importantly, engages our customers.”
Backlash against Jeff Bezos
According to the comment in the NYT, “The cuts are a sign that Jeff Bezos, who became one of the world’s richest people by selling things on the internet, has not yet figured out how to build and maintain a profitable publication on the internet.”
The story further reported, “Matt Murray, The Post’s executive editor, said on a call Wednesday morning with newsroom employees that the company had lost too much money for too long and had not been meeting readers’ needs.
“He said that all sections would be affected in some way, and that the result would be a publication focused even more on national news and politics, as well as business and health, and far less on other areas.”
Backlash is intensifying over deep job cuts at The Washington Post, with the paper’s own guild warning the newsroom is being hollowed out at the expense of credibility, reach and mission.
In a stark statement, the Washington Post Guild said the layoffs were “not inevitable,” noting that in just three years the workforce has shrunk by roughly 400 people.
“Continuing to eliminate workers only stands to weaken the newspaper, drive away readers and undercut The Post’s mission: to hold power to account without fear or favour and provide critical information for communities across the region, country and world,” the statement said.
The Guild said it “vehemently opposes any more staff reductions,” calling on readers to stand in solidarity with laid-off colleagues and those who remain, and urging supporters to attend a #SaveThePost rally. It concluded bluntly: if Jeff Bezos is no longer willing to invest in the mission that has defined the paper for generations, “then The Post deserves a steward that will.”
— Washington Post Guild (@PostGuild) February 4, 2026
Former executive editor Marty Baron went further, describing the cuts as “among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organisations.”
Baron said the Post’s ambitions would be “sharply diminished,” its staff “further depleted,” and the public denied “ground-level, fact-based reporting… needed more than ever,” adding that “Bezos’s sickening efforts to curry favor with President Trump have left an especially ugly stain of their own” and amounted to “near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.”
New: Statement from former executive editor Marty Baron: “This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organizations.
“The Washington Post’s ambitions will be sharply diminished, its talented and brave staff will be further depleted, and…
— Jeremy Barr (@jeremymbarr) February 4, 2026
The unrest follows Bezos’s earlier announcement that the opinion section would be reshaped around “support and defence of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.”
In a post on X, Bezos said he offered opinion editor David Shipley “the opportunity to lead this new chapter,” adding: “I suggested to him that if the answer wasn’t ‘hell yes,’ then it had to be ‘no.’ After careful consideration, David decided to step away.”
Bezos said the company would now search for a new opinion editor “to own this new direction,” a move that has only sharpened fears about editorial independence as staff cuts accelerate.