Washington Post job cuts: Ishaan Tharoor among those laid-off; massive firing sees over 30% job cuts

The Washington Post has began massive layoffs in all departments across the company. According to a New York Times report, 30 per cent of the workforce which includes over 300 journalists and many from the business side have been laid off. The layoffs also include Shashi Tharoor's son Ishaan Tharoor who was a columnist on foreign affairs and New Delhi bureau chief Pranshu Verma.

According to Reuters, the American daily newspaper has eliminated its sports department “in its current form” and has also reduces its number of its international journalists in large-scale job cuts.

After being laid-off, Ishaan Tharoor said, “I have been laid off today from the @washingtonpost, along with most of the International staff and so many other wonderful colleagues. I’m heartbroken for our newsroom and especially for the peerless journalists who served the Post internationally — editors and correspondents who have been my friends and collaborators for almost 12 years. It’s been an honor to work with them.”

“I launched the WorldView column in January 2017 to help readers better understand the world and America’s place in it and I’m grateful for the half a million loyal subscribers who tuned into the column several times a week over the years,” he said.

Pranshu Verma announced in a post on X: “Heartbroken to share I've been laid off from The Washington Post. Gutted for so many of my talented friends who are also gone. It was a privilege to work here the past four years. Serving as the paper's New Delhi bureau chief was an honor.”

Washington Post job cuts

Washington Post plans to retain several reporters to join features and cover sports as a cultural and societal phenomenon, Reuters quoted sources as saying. They also said that it will shrink its international footprint, impacting all departments. The most hit has been the sports department which has been closed, according to the reports.

According to the reports, the job cuts were announced by Executive Editor Matt Murray during a call with employees. On the call, Matt Murray said, “We will be closing the sports department in its current form.” Also Read | Oracle layoffs: Which departments will get affected? Here's what we know

“All departments are impacted. Politics and government will remain our largest desk and will remain central to our engagement and subscriber growth,” the source quoted the executive editor as saying. He added, “The actions we are taking include a broad strategic reset with a significant staff reduction.”

The large-scale layoffs come a few days after The Washington Post scaled back its coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics amid mounting financial losses.

The more than 145-year-old newspaper last year announced job cuts across several business functions to navigate those challenges, stating that the reductions would not affect its newsroom. Also Read | Amazon layoffs: Which departments will get affected as e-commerce giant cuts jobs?

The Washington Post, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, has been cutting costs in recent years. It offered voluntary separation packages to employees across all functions in 2023 amid losses of $100 million.

In a letter to Bezos last week (January 29), The Post's White House staff said their most impactful coverage depends heavily on collaboration with teams at risk of job cuts and that a diversified newsroom is essential at a time when the paper faces financial challenges.

Will Lewis was hired in 2023 to help The Washington Post. In 2024, he had warned that The Post was in trouble. “We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff,” he said.

In 2024, Jeff Bezos, too, had admitted that the American publisher was losing money. But he maintained, “We saved The Washington Post once, and we’re going to save it a second time.”

(With Reuters inputs)