Washington Post staff brace for 'deep' layoffs as fallout over Trump election win draws fresh blood

The Washington Post is set to be hit with some serious layoffs that will affect 'dozens of employees,' according to a new report.

The news, first reported by Status, comes amid an exodus of top talent and financial problems for the newspaper. 

One source said the layoffs will only impact the paper's 'business division', and another detailed that they 'will be deep.'

Both said they will occur sometime this week, as part of an ongoing bid to cut costs and contemplate potential replacements ahead of the new Trump administration.

Back in September, the Post laid off a quarter of its workforce from its software unit, months after implementing massive buyouts in a bid to prevent layoffs. Together, the events led to a loss of almost 300 employees, all within a year. 

That month, the Post's new publisher and CEO William Lewis issued a statement to staffers in the DC office detailing how dire the publication's financial situation was, while promising, 'We are going to turn this thing around.'

Pointing out how the paper's audience 'has halved in recent years' in the process, the former Financial Times reporter told his staff, 'People are not reading your stuff.'

A series of exits followed, at a time where Washington is the biggest story in the world.

Those problems were worsened when Bezos, 60, broke tradition and blocked The Post’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris ahead of the November election.

The move led to more than 250,000 readers immediately canceling their subscriptions, after which Bezos penned an op-ed defending the decision.

In it, the world's second-richest man cited growing 'distrust' of media, as Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest, propped up the now president-elect. 

'What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias,' he wrote at the time, after decades of the Post promoting a Democrat. 

'A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it's the right one.'

Three days before, Lewis released a memo about the absence of an endorsement - a first since 1988.

Aside from spurring backlash, the move, made in October, paved the way for some poaching post-election, as outlets in DC are in midst of a battle for scoops and talent.

Well-known political reporters Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker were recently hired by The Atlantic, and Managing Editor Matea Gold has made way to The New York Times.

Her exit came after she quietly passed over for the top editor role in favor of Matt Murray, a yet-to-be announced decision made by Lewis, insiders said.

This comes after three prominent Opinions section writers - David Hoffman, Molly Roberts and Robert Kagan - quit after the Bezos-endorsement decision.

The paper's White House Correspondent, Tyler Pager, has quit as well, announcing last week that he would be rejoining the New York Times. 

The top Opinion staffers left, Editor Amanda Katz and her deputy Charles Lane, have left as well.

The exits - and the people making them - have many questioning whether both Lewis and Bezos have flubbed by alienating people manning the paper, which over the years has become increasingly progressive.

As they were occurring, Insiders told Puck late last month how Lewis may not be under the impression that these exits are all that damning, as he steers the Post toward a broader, nonpartisan future.

In an January interview with Semafor, he did call Schere 'his favorite reporter'.

Moreover, Status last week reported that star Trump reporter Josh Dawsey is parting way with the publication in favor of the Wall Street Journal.

Insiders told journalist Oliver Darcy that Dawsey will start there next month, as a political investigations reporter. 

Those familiar with the matter added how brass at paper tried to dissuade Dawsey from leaving, but he had already made up his mind.

'He is very unlikely to be the last out the door, either,' Darcy's report read further.  

A spokesperson for The Journal didn’t respond to an inquiry by the journalist for the report, which published hours before Darcy's report late Sunday indicating layoffs.

Staffers at the paper are now scared stiff, insiders said for the latter - citing already depleted morale.

In the meantime, Lewis - whose yearlong tenure has reportedly seen him surface as lightning rod for hate at the newspaper - is said to not be too worried about retaining talent, first focusing on the financial leg of the paper's continued, convoluted transformation.