The Washington Post began firing staffers Tuesday as the Jeff Bezos-owned broadsheet suffers declines in advertising revenue and readership, the paper announced.
The company is expected to lay off 20 journalists and not fill another 30 vacancies, leading to a sigh of relief from those at the venerable paper who were fearing a more major blood-letting.
The NY Post reports the culling of the 2,500-person staff comes weeks after publisher Fred Ryan announced the impending layoffs. Ryan vowed Tuesday the paper’s head count will remain the same or higher by the end of 2023, the outlet reported.
The Washington Post Guild, the union representing staffers, blasted the layoffs.
“We believe any job eliminations right now — at a time of continued growth and expansion — are unacceptable,” the guild wrote in a message to its members.
Aside from the layoffs, the company will remove dedicated coverage on its website focusing on video games, e-sports and the child-focused KidsPost, sources told The Daily Beast.
Since Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million, the newspaper has turned a profit every year. But the subscription boom that the newspaper enjoyed during the Trump years has faded and revenue fell in 2021.
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