Will Lewis named Washington Post CEO

Will Lewis, former CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of the Wall Street Journal, will be the next CEO of the Washington Post.

The Post confirmed Mr. Lewis’s appointment in a brief statement Saturday evening after The New York Times first reported it.

The Post’s statement included a comment from Mr. Lewis, who will take office on January 2. “The Washington Post is one of the world’s leading media publishers, known for its 145-year history of unwavering journalism, and I am thrilled and honored to lead it as its media executive and former journalist,” he said.

In the statement, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of The Post, reaffirmed his commitment to the publication, calling Mr. Lewis an “outstanding and tenacious industry leader.”

Mr. Bezos sent an email to the Post newsroom on Saturday evening, a copy of which was shared with the Times, saying he was drawn to Mr. Lewis’s “love of journalism and passion for financial success.

Mr. Lewis, 54, a British-born former journalist who was editor of the Daily Telegraph before becoming news director, spent more than 15 years at the helm of major news agencies. More recently, I co-founded The information movementa start-up aimed at young information consumers.

Mr. Bezos appointed Mr. Lewis at a pivotal time for the news organization. The Postal Service, which is on track to lose $100 million this year, has struggled to grow its digital subscription business in the years since President Donald J. Trump left office.

The editorial team is also preparing to cover the 2024 presidential election, a key topic for a newspaper that prioritizes political reporting. Mr. Trump, a frequent critic of both Mr. Bezos and the Post, appears to be playing a prominent role in the race.

Fred Ryan, the former publisher and chief executive of The Post, announced in June that he was stepping down after nearly 10 years in the role. He presided over an increase in digital subscriptions and an expansion of the newsroom. But in recent years, subscriber growth has lost momentum, falling to 2.5 million paying subscribers, down from about three million subscribers in 2020. The Post lost money in the year last, after years of profitability.

In the final years of his tenure, Mr. Ryan aroused the frustration of many Post executives, who felt he presided over a stultifying corporate culture at the paper. He also clashed with Sally Buzbee, the editor-in-chief, over a personnel matter, and his departure was seen within the editorial staff as a victory for Ms. Buzbee.

Since Mr. Ryan’s departure, the company has been led by Patty Stonesifer, an Amazon board member and confidante of Mr. Bezos. Ms. Stonesifer told the editors in June that she planned to serve in the role for six months to a year while the search for a permanent chief executive was underway and promised there would be no layoffs .

But Ms Stonesifer later admitted that her statement about the job cuts had been “naive” and said in an email to the editor last month that projections for growth in traffic, subscriptions and advertising had been “too optimistic”. She told staff that as a result, The Post would cut about 240 jobs across the organization through a buyout program.

Mr Lewis’ appointment comes after a month-long recruitment process led by Ms Stonesifer, who used recruitment firm Sucherman to assess candidates. In recent weeks, the Washington Post or Sucherman have contacted numerous industry figures, according to several people familiar with the discussions. Those individuals included Bloomberg LP board member Josh Steiner; Evan Smith, the former general manager of the Texas Tribune; Nicholas Thompson, managing director of The Atlantic; Goli Sheikholeslami, managing director of Politico; and Craig Forman, former chief executive of the McClatchy newspaper chain.

Puck earlier reported that Mr. Lewis was a leading finalist to become chief executive of the Washington Post.

A former Financial Times journalist, Mr Lewis rose through the editorial ranks to become editor of the Telegraph Media Group, which owns the Daily Telegraph. In 2010, Mr Lewis joined News UK, part of the empire founded by media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

There, he was part of the management team tasked with cleaning up a phone hacking and police corruption scandal that led to the closure of Mr Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid.

After being named chief executive of Dow Jones, parent company of the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, in 2014, Mr. Lewis oversaw a period of growth in digital subscriptions. By the end of Mr. Lewis’s tenure in 2020, The Journal had more than two million digital subscribers, up from about 700,000 when it started.

At the Journal, Mr. Lewis adopted a personal touch in his interactions with the newsroom. He was known to have contacted some journalists by sending them brief emails expressing support for their work.

The News Movement, the startup he has led since 2021, posts news videos on popular social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube and has partnered with organizations including the Associated Press. The company has raised $15 million from backers including British newspaper publisher National World, and recently acquired political news startup The Recount.

Mr. Lewis was knighted this year by King Charles III for “political and public service”, on the recommendation of Boris Johnson, the former British Prime Minister whom he had advised informally. Mr. Lewis is also one of the suitors of The Telegraph Group, his former employer: he said Bloomberg in September that he had gathered financial support.

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