Washington Post cuts 300 journalists as Bezos reshapes newsroom

The Washington Post laid off more than 300 journalists on Feb. 4, 2026. The cuts eliminated roughly 38% of the paper's 790-person newsroom, making it one of the largest single-day layoffs in American newspaper history.

The Post eliminated entire sections including sports, books, and style coverage. It also closed most of its foreign bureaus, ending decades of international reporting that distinguished the paper from competitors.

Executive editor Matt Murray told staff the cuts were necessary because the media landscape had become 'fundamentally different.' He cited organic search traffic, which fell nearly 50% over the last three years as AI tools scraped news content without driving readers back to publishers.

Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million. His net worth sits around $240 billion as of early 2026, meaning the purchase price represented about 0.1% of his current wealth.

The Post lost roughly $100 million in 2024. Digital subscriptions peaked during Trump's first term and have declined since, including 250,000 cancellations in late 2024 after Bezos blocked the paper from endorsing a presidential candidate.

The Washington Post Guild, which represents newsroom employees, condemned the layoffs: 'These layoffs are not inevitable. A newsroom cannot be hollowed out without consequences for its credibility, its reach, and its future.' Guild data showed layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color.

Former executive editor Marty Baron, who led the Post from 2013 to 2021 and oversaw its expansion to more than 1,000 newsroom employees, called it one of the paper's 'darkest days.'

The layoffs follow a pattern of billionaire media owners cutting newsrooms for profitability. Patrick Soon-Shiong cut the Los Angeles Times newsroom by 20% in 2024. The newspaper industry has lost two-thirds of its journalists since 2005.

The Post plans to shift resources toward AI-powered news products and shorter-form digital content. Murray said the remaining roughly 400-person staff would focus on politics, technology, national security, science, health, and business coverage.