The Washington Post’s losses soared past $100 million in 2025 as the broadsheet struggled to keep up with a changing news landscape – prompting colossal layoffs earlier this month, according to a Thursday report.
After bleeding $77 million in 2023 and about $100 million in 2024, losses continued to pile up at the Jeff Bezos-owned broadsheet last year – even with a still-well-staffed newsroom, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Like many other legacy papers, WaPo has struggled to stay afloat amid steep declines in web traffic and changes in how consumers get their news.
A massive round of layoffs impacting 30% of employees earlier this month still stunned a newsroom known for its historic coverage of the Watergate scandal and the Pentagon Papers, along with its esteemed sports desk.
Asked for comment Thursday, a Washington Post spokesperson pointed to a previous statement on the firings, 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 comment on its revenue figures.
Acting CEO and Publisher Jeff D’Onofrio – who took the helm after Will Lewis abruptly stepped down just days after the layoffs – and Executive Editor Matt Murray gave a dismal picture of the paper during a staff meeting Wednesday.
In their first major presentation since the layoffs, the paper’s top executives detailed years of overspending and declining productivity in the newsroom, though they did not provide specifics on losses, according to the Journal.
Expenses surpassed revenue between 2022 and 2025 after the company hired hundreds of staffers in previous years, D’Onofrio reportedly told staffers.
The number of news stories published by the paper has plummeted 42% since 2020 – even though newsroom costs were 16% higher in 2025 compared to the pandemic year, D’Onofrio added, according to the report.
Murray, a former editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal, reportedly nodded to the “painfulness of the moment” following the grim firing of more than 300 journalists.
He argued that WaPo staffers shouldn’t focus on writing up every breaking news 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 former Tumblr CEO who joined the newspaper as its chief financial officer in June – said he is working on a larger strategic plan, though it will take time.
“Bear with me, because that will take some time and obvious care, but I’m keen to get going on it,” he reportedly said.
“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 recent layoffs decimated local, metro and international teams, as well as the entire sports desk – despite reporters’ impassioned pleas to Bezos.
Meanwhile, staffers are reportedly at a breaking point amid a growing distrust of the billionaire owner after the paper killed an endorsement of Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and added more conservative voices to its opinion section.
The canceled endorsement also fueled outrage among loyal readers, who ended their subscriptions en masse and hurt the paper’s bottom line.
Bezos’ new vision for WaPo’s opinion section, which he announced in the wake of President Trump’s re-election, emphasizes free markets and personal liberties – leading opinion editor David Shipley and several columnists to exit the company.
The broadsheet offered buyouts to newsroom staffers about halfway through 2025, but February’s bloodbath signaled the end of such deals and a more intense cost-cutting effort.
The tumult at the paper comes as the news industry overall remains under siege. CBS News is in the middle of layoffs under new leadership, and the New York Daily News fired 16 people earlier this month, leaving the publication with a skeleton staff.
