The Washington Post lost more than $100 million last year, according to a Wall Street Journal report, a substantial shortfall that led the paper to lay off a third of the company earlier this month.
The Post’s leaders had been vocal about the financial challenges amid changing consumer habits, but have not shared precise numbers on losses. The Post reportedly lost $100 million in 2024, and $77 million in 2023. Earlier this month, a source told TheWrap that the Post lost up to $125 million in 2025.
The Post did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
Executive editor Matt Murray acknowledged during Semafor’s “Restoring Trust in Media” event on Wednesday that “journalism alone isn’t enough” to compete in a news market dominated by diversified offerings from outlets like the New York Times, which boasts subscriptions that include games, cooking recipes and more.i
“We’re fighting for the attention of the audiences,” Murray said. “We need corporate models that support the journalism.”
Murray also said that owner Jeff Bezos remained “committed to a long-term future for the Post” and wanted to see it as “relevant and lively in people’s lives.” He also defended the paper’s mass layoffs earlier this month, which saw more than 300 journalists lose their jobs and a broader retrenchment from local, sports and foreign coverage.
“There’s a bit of risk in it, but I think we made very smart choices,” Murray said on Wednesday. “Standing still would not have been an option. So what we’re aiming to do is get to break even.”
The Wall Street Journal reported how Murray and interim CEO Jeff D’Onofrio addressed staff during a town hall, where Murray acknowledged the “painfulness of the moment.”
The two shared that expenses had exceeded revenue between 2022 and 2025 due to hiring increases, while story counts had fallen by 42% since 2020. In light of the financial troubles, Murray said, the paper needed to adjust how it thought about approaching stories.
“We don’t want or need to do every story or jump on everything that happens,” Murray said, according to the Journal. “We’re not a paper of record; there’s no such thing anymore in today’s world.”
What the paper needed to be instead, Murray added, was “distinctive, urgent, must-read with every chance we have.”
D’Onofrio, who told staff earlier this month that he intended to “fight like hell for this institution” following the exit of CEO Will Lewis, said on Wednesday that he needed some grace as he built out a business plan.
“But I’m keen to get going on it,” he said, according to the Journal. “And we are going to go after it, and we’re going to go after it hard, because we owe it to this place to do that.”
Some of the challenges came after Bezos’ own decision-making. More than 250,000 people reportedly unsubscribed in late 2024 after Bezos killed a Kamala Harris endorsement and ended the paper’s tradition of endorsing presidential candidates, while another 75,000 reportedly canceled their subscription after he focused the Post’s opinion section on “personal liberties and free markets.”
