The powers that be at the Washington Post were approached with an offer that would have saved several jobs.
Instead, they opted to lay off hundreds of employees and eliminate several sections of the once-iconic masthead, according to a new report.
Recently-ousted Washington Post CEO Will Lewis was approached with an offer from Washington City Paper owner Mark Ein to buy the Post’s sports and local desks following reports in late January that the paper was contemplating their elimination, The Verge reported on Tuesday.
While Lewis was reportedly open to this move, which would have kept journalists at those desks employed and ensured that residents of Washington D.C. continued to benefit from their work, sources said that talks abruptly ended when the layoffs were announced on Wednesday, including the shuttering of both desks in question.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Washington Post and representatives for Mark Ein for comment. The Post did not respond to a request for comment from The Verge.
“There is now a massive hole in our community that needs to be filled,” Ein said in response to a plea on social media to hire all of the fired reporters. “I’m on it!”
Both Bezos, who purchased the Post in 2013 for $250 million, and Lewis, faced substantial criticism for the layoffs, which affected some 400 employees, particularly those on the international, local, sports and editing desks.
Former Post employees, including veteran White House journalist Peter Baker, condemned the decision, with Baker writing on X, “No struggling newspaper ever saved itself by becoming a worse and less essential product. But what’s happening today at the @washingtonpost is not just the latest devastating contraction of the news industry; it’s the gutting of an American institution vital for a healthy society.”
The paper’s former owner, Don Graham, whose family owned the paper for eight decades, also spoke out about the decision, offering to help axed employees however he could.
“It’s a bad day,” Graham wrote on Facebook. “I am sad that so many excellent reporters and editors—and old friends—are losing their jobs. My first concern is for them; I will do anything I can to help.”
Lewis faced additional criticism for his conduct during the layoffs after he was spotted on the red carpet at the NFL Honors ceremony in San Francisco one day after the layoffs left hundreds of people unemployed.
He ultimately resigned on Saturday, snubbing his employees on the way out and only thanking Bezos in his farewell memo.
“I want to thank Jeff Bezos for his support and leadership throughout my tenure as CEO and Publisher,” Lewis wrote in a memo shared by Post reporter Matt Viser on X. “The institution could not have a better owner.”
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