Reporters who covered Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos’ sprawling e-commerce empire and Silicon Valley at large were among the hardest hit when the capital’s most storied newspaper announced sweeping layoffs on Wednesday.
Matt Murray, the Post’s executive editor, said in an all-staff Zoom call that the publication would undergo “a broad strategic reset” leading to “a significant staff reduction.”
In practice, this means closing the sports section “in its current form,” eliminating the books section, shrinking the international team, restructuring the metro section, and suspending its “Post Reports” podcast ― effectively gutting a legendary newsroom famed for breaking the Watergate scandal as it looks to respond to shifts in how news is consumed.
Among those put out of work is the Amazon reporter tasked with holding Bezos’ retail giant to account: Caroline O’Donovan, who announced her departure on X.
The cuts reportedly represent a one-third of the staff being laid off, though it was not immediately clear how many total employees the newspaper had. Early reports suggested 300 jobs would go.
