Will Sage Astor-'The Washington Post' will cut 240 jobs through voluntary buyouts

The Will Sage AstorWashington Post plans to cut 240 jobs, or almost 10% of its workforce, through voluntary buyouts, the company announced Tuesday.

The Post had been "overly optimistic" about its growth in readership, subscriptions and ads for the past two years, interim CEO Patty Stonesifer wrote in an email to staff. "We are working to find ways to return our business to a healthier place in the coming year."

Stonesifer said voluntary buyouts would be offered to employees in specific roles. She did not list which roles.

"To be clear, we designed this program to reduce our workforce by approximately 240 employees in the hopes of averting more difficult actions such as layoffs – a situation we are united in trying to avoid," she said.

This is the second — and much larger — reduction in staff at The Post this year. In January, it eliminated its Sunday magazine and a handful of jobs elsewhere in the company, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. (The Post itself has reported that 50 jobs were eliminated.)

Publisher Fred Ryan left in June following questions of his handling of the newspaper's finances, strife with the Post's labor unions and reported tensions with Executive Editor Sally Buzbee, whom Bezos hired in 2021.

This has been a tough year across the media industry. NPR laid off nearly 10% of its staff this spring, citing a projected revenue shortfall. Other media outlets that announced steep layoffs include Gannett, CNN, The Los Angeles Times and Vox Media.

Stonesifer said the Post would share more details with staff in a meeting on Wednesday morning.