The Washington Post is reducing about 240 jobs around the group because it tries to offset demanding situations with virtual subscriptions and promoting, in accordance to a companywide electronic mail on Tuesday.
Patty Stonesifer, the period in-between leader government officer, mentioned within the electronic mail to Post staff that the corporate was hoping to succeed in the cuts via voluntary buyouts. The buyouts will likely be introduced to team of workers contributors this week.
The corporate has about 2,500 staff in general, with greater than 1,000 in its newsroom. The corporate declined to touch upon what number of jobs within the newsroom can be eradicated.
“Our prior projections for traffic, subscriptions and advertising growth for the past two years — and into 2024 — have been overly optimistic,” Ms. Stonesifer wrote within the electronic mail. She added: “The urgent need to invest in our top growth priorities brought us to the difficult conclusion that we need to adjust our cost structure now.”
The transfer is the most recent indication of The Post’s trade struggles. The corporate, which is owned via the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is on the right track to lose more or less $100 million this 12 months.
The choice of subscriptions at The Post has declined in recent times — it now has more or less 2.5 million subscribers, down from a excessive of 3 million subscribers on the finish of 2020. The Post has additionally struggled within the face of an industrywide decline in virtual promoting.
Mr. Bezos, who paid $250 million for the newspaper in 2013, has in the past mentioned he needs the e-newsletter to be successful.
Some of The Post’s troubles were positioned on the toes of Fred Ryan, the longtime leader government and writer, who introduced his resignation in June. Mr. Ryan, a former Reagan aide and Politico government who joined The Post in 2014, oversaw plentiful enlargement within the corporate right through the primary 5 years of his tenure. The newsroom more or less doubled in dimension and subscriptions soared.
But The Post, like different news organizations, noticed a drop-off in subscribers after former President Donald J. Trump left administrative center. Mr. Ryan used to be criticized for what some within the corporate noticed as a stultified trade tradition and steadily clashed with newsroom leaders. He additionally presided over an exodus of ability previously two years, together with top-tier executives and high-profile reporters.
Ms. Stonesifer, an established buddy of Mr. Bezos, agreed to step in as an period in-between chief after Mr. Ryan departed this 12 months. She mentioned in her electronic mail that she had labored with the senior management group over the last two months to assessment the corporate’s trade and monetary effects, main to the verdict to be offering buyouts “in the hopes of averting more difficult decisions such as layoffs.”
She mentioned staff can be notified this week in the event that they have been eligible for a bundle and have been loose to decline the be offering.
The Post has been on the lookout for an enduring leader government and writer. The seek is down to a last 5 applicants, in accordance to an individual with wisdom of the location, who requested no longer to be known discussing non-public conversations.
In January, The Post laid off 20 reporters and iced up hiring on 30 open jobs. It close down its on-line gaming vertical, Launcher, in addition to ChildrenPost, its segment for youngsters. Numerous different media firms have laid off a minimum of 7 % in their team of workers this 12 months, together with The Los Angeles Times, Vox Media and NPR.
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