Tom Kirvan
Legal News, Editor-in-Chief
Legal News, Editor-in-Chief
In an odd way, it’s nice to see a billionaire fall flat on his face. Unfortunately, the face-plant invariably inflicts plenty of collateral damage.
Such is the curious case with Jeff Bezos, the Amazon kingpin, and The Washington Post, the once great newspaper that he owns and evidently is determined to preside over its likely demise after recently enacting mass layoffs.
The job cuts were announced earlier this month and impacted approximately 300 employees, representing nearly one-third of its staff. The layoffs heavily impacted the newsroom, including the elimination of the sports and books sections, in addition to major reductions in the metro and international departments.
“The Post has an essential journalistic mission and an extraordinary opportunity,” Bezos wrote in a prepared statement issued a week after the paper enacted the broad job cuts. “Each and every day our readers give us a roadmap to success.
The data tells us what is valuable and where to focus.”
What Bezos neglects to mention is that he chose to ignore the loss of 200,000 digital subscribers in late 2024 after he decided that the paper wouldn’t endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in 36 years. He reportedly made the decision on the purported grounds that endorsement editorials “create distrust” among readers.
It soon became clear that the real reason for his reluctance to take an editorial stand was for fear of alienating the Republican presidential candidate who made known his plans to punish anyone who crossed him on a return trip to the White House.
Of utmost concern to Bezos is the need to protect his vast commercial interests, which include Amazon and Blue Origin, the aerospace company developing rockets.
As of early 2026, Bezos’s net worth was estimated at approximately $252 billion, ranking him among the top four richest individuals in the world. His fortune fluctuates based on Amazon’s stock performance, and can wobble up and down monthly to the tune of billions.
Bezos reportedly spent $250 million when he purchased The Post in 2013, signifying what many media observers believed would be a new era of expansion under one of the world’s most successful innovators.
Bezos, in addressing staff members after the purchase, promised a “new golden era for The Washington Post,” saying that his investment and his overall wealth would provide “financial runway” for sustained profitability and editorial excellence. As recently as 2023, a decade after he began his ownership, Bezos planned for it to be a “year for investment.”
But those plans took an almost immediate downward turn when he appointed British media executive Will Lewis as publisher and chief executive, a move that was widely panned and led to an exodus of some of the paper’s top editorial talent.
The Post also began losing money big time, some $77 million in 2023 and another $100 million in 2024. The promised “golden era” had devolved into controversy and crisis instead.
The Post’s decline stands in marked contrast to the picture at its longtime competitor, The New York Times, the daily that has approximately 12.8 million digital and print subscribers. The Times recorded a $1.39 billion profit for the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, according to Wall Street analysts.
The paper’s success is evidence of its strong leadership, and a willingness to stick to its journalistic principles instead of caving in to the strong-arm tactics of a would-be dictator bent on remaking the media in his own image.
Such is the curious case with Jeff Bezos, the Amazon kingpin, and The Washington Post, the once great newspaper that he owns and evidently is determined to preside over its likely demise after recently enacting mass layoffs.
The job cuts were announced earlier this month and impacted approximately 300 employees, representing nearly one-third of its staff. The layoffs heavily impacted the newsroom, including the elimination of the sports and books sections, in addition to major reductions in the metro and international departments.
“The Post has an essential journalistic mission and an extraordinary opportunity,” Bezos wrote in a prepared statement issued a week after the paper enacted the broad job cuts. “Each and every day our readers give us a roadmap to success.
The data tells us what is valuable and where to focus.”
What Bezos neglects to mention is that he chose to ignore the loss of 200,000 digital subscribers in late 2024 after he decided that the paper wouldn’t endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in 36 years. He reportedly made the decision on the purported grounds that endorsement editorials “create distrust” among readers.
It soon became clear that the real reason for his reluctance to take an editorial stand was for fear of alienating the Republican presidential candidate who made known his plans to punish anyone who crossed him on a return trip to the White House.
Of utmost concern to Bezos is the need to protect his vast commercial interests, which include Amazon and Blue Origin, the aerospace company developing rockets.
As of early 2026, Bezos’s net worth was estimated at approximately $252 billion, ranking him among the top four richest individuals in the world. His fortune fluctuates based on Amazon’s stock performance, and can wobble up and down monthly to the tune of billions.
Bezos reportedly spent $250 million when he purchased The Post in 2013, signifying what many media observers believed would be a new era of expansion under one of the world’s most successful innovators.
Bezos, in addressing staff members after the purchase, promised a “new golden era for The Washington Post,” saying that his investment and his overall wealth would provide “financial runway” for sustained profitability and editorial excellence. As recently as 2023, a decade after he began his ownership, Bezos planned for it to be a “year for investment.”
But those plans took an almost immediate downward turn when he appointed British media executive Will Lewis as publisher and chief executive, a move that was widely panned and led to an exodus of some of the paper’s top editorial talent.
The Post also began losing money big time, some $77 million in 2023 and another $100 million in 2024. The promised “golden era” had devolved into controversy and crisis instead.
The Post’s decline stands in marked contrast to the picture at its longtime competitor, The New York Times, the daily that has approximately 12.8 million digital and print subscribers. The Times recorded a $1.39 billion profit for the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, according to Wall Street analysts.
The paper’s success is evidence of its strong leadership, and a willingness to stick to its journalistic principles instead of caving in to the strong-arm tactics of a would-be dictator bent on remaking the media in his own image.
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