The Bezos-owned Washington Post is cutting new jobs

The Washington Post has announced layoffs of nearly 100 employees, or 4% of its staff, in an effort to stem mounting losses, media reports said.

It is reported that the cuts will mainly affect the employees of the business part of the famous American newspaper, which is owned by the founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos.

The publication is among the many news outlets struggling in the digital age, as a growing number of online platforms compete for ad revenue.

The layoffs, announced Tuesday, come amid upheaval at the company after Mr. Bezos broke with tradition and blocked the endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris on the eve of the presidential elections in the United States in November.

In 2023, the Washington Post reported a loss of $77m (£45m) and a drop in readership on its website. That same year, the newspaper announced it was offering a voluntary buyout to workers in an attempt to cut its workforce by 10%.

Mr. Bezos wrote an opinion piece explaining that the endorsement block was necessary because of a growing public perception that “the media is biased.”

However, the paper reported that 250,000 of its readers had canceled their subscriptions in protest.

Since then, several prominent journalists, including investigative reporter Josh Dawsey, who confirmed to X that he is taking a job at The Wall Street Journal, have also left the paper. Editor-in-chief Matteo Gold is joining Post rival The New York Times, the Times confirmed.

The apparent conflict between Bezos and the paper’s top talent escalated Saturday when the Pulitzer Prize Cartoonist Ann Thelnes has announced she is stepping down from the Washington Post.

It came after the paper refused to publish a satirical cartoon showing Mr Bezos and other tycoons kneeling in front of a statue of President-elect Donald Trump.

Last month, Mr. Bezos announced that Amazon would donate $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund and make $1 million in kind. Mr Bezos also described Mr Trump’s re-election victory as an “extraordinary political comeback” and dined with him at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.