Washington Post losses soared past $100M in 2025, – Business News
The Washington Post’s losses soared past $100 million in 2025 because the paper struggled to keep up with a altering information panorama — prompting colossal layoffs earlier this month, in line with a Thursday report.
After bleeding $77 million in 2023 and about $100 million in 2024, losses continued to pile up on the Jeff Bezos-owned broadsheet final yr — even with a still-well-staffed newsroom, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources accustomed to the matter.
Like many different legacy papers, WaPo has struggled to remain afloat amid steep declines in web site visitors and adjustments in how customers get their information.
Hundreds rally in entrance of the Washington Post’s workplace building on Feb. 5 to protest intense layoffs. Sue Dorfman/ZUMA Press / SplashNews.com
An enormous spherical of layoffs impacting 30% of workers earlier this month nonetheless shocked a newsroom recognized for its historic protection of the Watergate scandal and the Pentagon Papers, together with its esteemed sports activities desk.
Asked for remark Thursday, a Washington Post spokesperson pointed to a earlier assertion on the layoffs, saying they “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.”
The paper declined to touch upon its income figures.
Acting CEO and writer Jeff D’Onofrio — who took the helm after Will Lewis abruptly stepped down simply days after the layoffs — and government editor Matt Murray gave a dismal image of the paper during a employees assembly Wednesday.
In their first main presentation because the layoffs, the paper’s high executives detailed years of overspending and declining productiveness in the newsroom, although they didn’t present specifics on losses, in line with the Journal.
Expenses surpassed income between 2022 and 2025 after the company employed tons of of staffers in earlier years, D’Onofrio reportedly informed staffers.
The quantity of information tales revealed by the paper has plummeted 42% since 2020 — although newsroom prices had been 16% increased in 2025 in comparison with the pandemic yr, D’Onofrio added, in line with the report.
The Washington Post’s losses soared past $100 million in 2025, in line with a report. The Washington Post through Getty Images
Murray, a former editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal, reportedly nodded to the “painfulness of the moment” following the grim massacre of more than 300 journalists.
He argued that WaPo staffers shouldn’t concentrate on writing up each breaking information story.
“We’re not a paper of record; there’s no such thing anymore in today’s world,” Murray was quoted as saying by the Journal.
He added: “We want to be distinctive, urgent, must-read with every chance we have.”
D’Onofrio — the previous Tumblr CEO who joined the newspaper as its chief financial officer in June — stated he’s engaged on a bigger strategic plan, although it can take time.
The Washington Post laid off 30% of its employees, or more than 300 journalists, earlier this month. Mehmet Eser/ZUMA / SplashNews.com
“Bear with me, because that will take some time and obvious care, but I’m keen to get going on it,” he reportedly stated.
“And we are going to go after it, and we’re going to go after it hard, because we owe it to this place to do that.”
The latest layoffs decimated native, metro and worldwide groups, in addition to the complete sports activities desk — regardless of reporters’ impassioned pleas to Bezos.
Meanwhile, staffers are reportedly at a breaking level amid a growing mistrust of the billionaire proprietor after the paper killed an endorsement of Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and added more conservative voices to its opinion part.
The canceled endorsement additionally fueled outrage amongst loyal readers, who ended their subscriptions en masse and harm the paper’s backside line.
Bezos’ new imaginative and prescient for WaPo’s opinion part, which he introduced in the wake of President Trump’s re-election, emphasizes free markets and personal liberties — main opinion editor David Shipley and a number of other columnists to exit the company.
The broadsheet provided buyouts to newsroom staffers about midway by means of 2025, however February’s layoff spherical signaled the top of such offers and a more intense cost-cutting effort.
The tumult on the paper comes because the information industry general stays underneath siege. CBS News is in the center of layoffs underneath new management, and the New York Daily News fired 16 people earlier this month, leaving the publication with a skeleton employees.
