Washington Post begins layoffs: report

The Washington Post editor-in-chief Matt Murray on Wednesday announced that the newspaper was beginning layoffs, according to a report.

During the Wednesday morning meeting, Murray told employees that the Post was undergoing a “broad strategic reset” that would result in “significant” layoffs to better position the newspaper for the future, several employees who were on the call told The Guardian.

Murray said that the Post has struggled to reach “customers.”

“Today, the Washington Post is taking a number of actions across the company to secure our future,” he said, according to an audio recording of the meeting.

Murray explained that the Post's current iteration of its sports desk was ending, but some employees would remain on a new team. The Post is also suspending its flagship daily news podcast Post Reports, reducing its international reporting operation, and restructuring its local coverage.

“We all recognize the actions we are taking today will be painful – most of all, of course, for those of you who are directly affected, but for everybody,” Murray said. “I want to say we deeply appreciate your many talents and contributions, over many years.”

“I know that the reset is going to feel like a shock to the system and raise some questions for everybody,” he added.

Murray explained that the move was “about positioning ourselves to become more essential to people’s lives in what is becoming a more crowded and competitive and complicated media landscape.”

The number of employees that will be laid off is unknown.

Post employees had been urging owner Jeff Bezos over the past week to stop or reduce the number of layoffs by sending letters and social media messages. Bezos has reportedly not responded to the employees.