• The Washington Post eliminated its entire sports department Wednesday as part of sweeping layoffs affecting one-third of its workforce across all departments
• Executive Editor Matt Murray announced the cuts via Zoom call, telling employees the moves were necessary to position the paper for future competition
• Former executive editor Marty Baron called the layoffs "among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations"

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TDR) — The Washington Post announced Wednesday it is eliminating its sports department as part of mass layoffs affecting one-third of its staff across all departments, marking a devastating blow to one of journalism's most storied institutions. Executive Editor Matt Murray informed employees during a Zoom meeting that approximately 300 newsroom positions and potentially 100 additional staff across the company would be eliminated in what he described as a "strategic reset" for the struggling newspaper.

The announcement confirmed weeks of speculation that began when the Post abruptly told sports reporters in January they would not cover the Winter Olympics despite having already spent more than $80,000 on housing and credentials for 14 journalists. The paper eventually reversed course and sent four reporters to Italy, but the damage to staff morale was already done.

"First, we will be closing the Sports department in its current form," Murray said on the Zoom call, according to multiple reports.

The sports department elimination ends a century-long tradition of excellence that produced legendary bylines including Shirley Povich, Michael Wilbon, Sally Jenkins, John Feinstein, and Tony Kornheiser. Some sports reporters will transition to covering sports as a "cultural and societal phenomenon" within the features team, while a skeleton crew will maintain a print sports section.

Widespread Newsroom Devastation

The layoffs extended far beyond sports, gutting the Post's international coverage, local metro desk, and specialized beats. The paper eliminated its books section, suspended its daily Post Reports podcast, and drastically reduced its overseas bureau presence. All Middle East correspondents and editors were terminated, along with reporters covering Russia, Ukraine, and other international hotspots.

"We are in fact bending the knee to Donald Trump because we're afraid of what he will do," former columnist Robert Kagan told CNN after resigning in October following Jeff Bezos' decision to kill a Kamala Harris endorsement.

Cairo Bureau Chief Claire Parker announced on social media she had been laid off along with the entire roster of Middle East correspondents. Reporters covering race and ethnicity, national health, protest movements, Maryland education, and even Amazon—Bezos' own company—were also terminated.

Staff members received emails Wednesday afternoon with one of two subject lines: informing them whether their position was or was not eliminated. The company declined to provide exact headcount numbers but confirmed roughly one-third of all employees across all departments were affected.

Bezos Decisions Blamed For Financial Crisis

Former Executive Editor Marty Baron, who led the Post from 2013 to 2021, issued a scathing statement condemning the cuts and pointing blame directly at the newspaper's billionaire owner.

"This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations," Baron said. "The Washington Post's ambitions will be sharply diminished, its talented and brave staff will be further depleted, and the public will be denied the ground-level, fact-based reporting in our communities and around the world that is needed more than ever."

Baron cited Bezos' decision to spike the Post's endorsement of Kamala Harris in October 2024 as a critical turning point. The move triggered more than 250,000 subscription cancellations—roughly 10% of the paper's total paid circulation—devastating the Post's already fragile financial position.

"If Jeff Bezos is no longer willing to invest in the mission that has defined this paper for generations and serve the millions who depend on Post journalism, then The Post deserves a steward that will," the Washington Post Guild said in a statement.

The union noted the Post has lost approximately 400 employees over the past three years through various rounds of buyouts and layoffs. The organization announced plans for a "#SaveThePost" rally Thursday outside the paper's headquarters.

Murray Defends Restructuring As Necessary Evolution

In his memo to staff, Murray argued the changes were overdue given the dramatic shifts in media consumption driven by artificial intelligence and changing reader habits. He noted that organic search traffic—which once helped the paper thrive—has fallen by nearly half over the past three years due to AI-powered search tools.

"We have concluded that the company's structure is too rooted in a different era, when we were a dominant, local print product," Murray wrote. "This restructure will help to secure our future in service of our journalistic mission and provide us stability moving forward."

Murray emphasized the Post would focus on areas demonstrating "authority, distinctiveness, and impact" including politics, national affairs, national security, science, health, technology, climate, business, investigations, and cultural coverage. The paper lost $100 million in 2022 and $77 million in 2023, according to previous reports.

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Publisher Will Lewis, hired by Bezos in early 2024 from Dow Jones, has been setting the stage for profitability by focusing investment on politics and select coverage areas while cutting sports, books, and international reporting. Lewis was notably absent from Wednesday's layoff announcement, according to multiple sources.

Contrasting Fortunes With The New York Times

The Post's struggles stand in stark contrast to its longtime rival The New York Times, which has thrived in recent years by investing in ancillary products like its Games site and Wirecutter product recommendations. The Times has doubled its staff over the past decade and acquired The Athletic to maintain robust sports coverage.

The Post's decline represents a remarkable reversal for a publication that flourished under Bezos' initial ownership after he purchased the paper for $250 million in 2013. The newspaper expanded its national ambitions, hired aggressively, and won multiple Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Donald Trump's first administration.

However, the relationship soured dramatically during Trump's second term. Bezos announced in February 2025 that the opinion section would only publish content supporting "personal liberties and free markets," leading to a conservative shift that alienated many longtime readers and prompted resignations from prominent columnists.

"Our leadership destroyed our brand," one current staffer told Columbia Journalism Review.

Former publisher Don Graham struck a bittersweet tone in his response, expressing sadness for laid-off colleagues while maintaining faith in Murray's leadership.

"I will have to learn a new way to read the paper, since I have started with the sports page since the late 1940's," Graham wrote on Facebook. "I will always want the Washington Post to succeed—and you should too. It makes a difference."

Will the Post's dramatic downsizing mark the beginning of recovery or accelerate the decline of one of journalism's most iconic institutions?

Sources

This report was compiled using information from CNN's reporting on the layoffs, CBS News' coverage of the announcement, The Boston Globe's analysis, Axios' internal details, Semafor's strategic assessment, Poynter Institute's breakdown, NPR's reporting on subscriber losses, Gizmodo's coverage of the Harris endorsement fallout, Columbia Journalism Review's analysis, Fox News' staff reactions, and Front Office Sports' reporting on the sports department closure.

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