Updates with background and Bezos statement in paragraphs 5-9

By Jasper Ward

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Washington Post publisher and CEO Will Lewis is leaving the newspaper, it announced on Saturday after carrying out widespread layoffs this week.

"During my tenure, difficult decisions have been taken in order to ensure the sustainable future of The Post so it can for many years ahead publish high-quality nonpartisan news to millions of customers each day," Lewis wrote in a message to staff that was shared online by the newspaper's White House bureau chief, Matt Viser.

Lewis, a former Dow Jones chief executive and publisher of the Wall Street Journal, was appointed to the role at the Washington Post in 2023 as the newspaper was suffering steep financial losses. He took over from Fred Ryan, who had served as publisher and CEO for nearly a decade.

Jeff D'Onofrio, chief financial officer of the newspaper owned by Jeff Bezos, will serve as acting publisher and CEO, the Post said. He joined the newspaper last June after serving in various roles at Google and Yahoo, among other companies.

"Customer data will drive our decisions, sharpening our edge in delivering what is most valuable to our audiences," D'Onofrio wrote on Saturday in an email to Post staffers.

Unions representing Post employees said Lewis' departure was necessary.

"Will Lewis’s exit is long overdue," The Washington Post Guild said in a statement. "His legacy will be the attempted destruction of a great American journalism institution. But it's not too late to save the Post. Jeff Bezos must immediately rescind these layoffs or sell the paper to someone willing to invest in its future."

Bezos, who bought the newspaper in 2013, characterized the leadership change as an "extraordinary opportunity" for the newspaper.

"The Post has an essential journalistic mission and an extraordinary opportunity," Bezos said, according to the Post. "Each and every day our readers give us a roadmap to success."

The departure of Lewis came days after the Post cut about one-third of its employees in a move that affected all departments at the newspaper. He was criticized for his absence during the layoffs on Wednesday, which the newspaper's former executive editor, Marty Baron, described as "among the darkest days" in the newspaper's history.

During his time at the Post, Lewis oversaw waves of staff reductions and had to deal with the loss of hundreds of thousands of subscribers after the newspaper stopped endorsing U.S. presidential candidates and shifted its opinion section's emphasis to a libertarian bent.

Lewis' Post tenure was rocky even before the subscriber losses.

After a 2024 disagreement with then-executive editor Sally Buzbee led to her departure , Lewis faced a newsroom outcry over his attempt to hire British journalist and former colleague Robert Winnett , who was linked to a phone-hacking controversy that also involved Lewis. Meanwhile, Lewis' most ballyhooed initiative, a so-called third newsroom, never came to fruition.

Former Wall Street Journal editor Matt Murray eventually was named the permanent replacement for Buzbee, who is now Reuters' news editor for the United States and Canada.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington and Helen Coster in New York; Edting by Sergio Non, Rod Nickel and Andrea Ricci )

((Jasper.Ward@thomsonreuters.com;))