The Washington Post laid off about one-third of its workforce on Wednesday, eliminating its sports section, closing its books desk and sharply reducing foreign and local reporting in one of the largest newsroom cuts in its history. The moves reflect mounting financial pressures on legacy news outlets and have sparked criticism from former leaders and press advocates.

Billionaire owner Jeff Bezos, who bought the paper in 2013, is seen to have lost interest in the money-losing outlet as he has tried to curry favor with President Donald Trump.

Executive Editor Matt Murray described the layoffs as “painful” and part of a strategy to strengthen the paper’s future amid changing reader habits and technology. “We can’t be everything to everyone,” he wrote in a note to staff. Murray outlined the changes in a companywide meeting, after which employees began receiving emails notifying them whether their roles were eliminated.

The cuts extend across virtually all departments, with the dedicated sports section ending in its current form and several foreign bureaus scaled back or closed. The books department also will be shuttered, and The Post’s daily news podcast, Post Reports, will be discontinued. Some sports reporters will be reassigned to cover sports as part of broader features coverage.

The announcement surprised many in journalism. Margaret Sullivan, a Columbia University journalism professor and former media columnist for The Post and The New York Times, said the news was “devastating” for anyone who cares about journalism in the United States and beyond. “The Washington Post has been so important in so many ways, in news coverage, sports and cultural coverage,” she said.

Martin Baron, who served as The Post’s executive editor before Murray, sharply criticized the cuts on X, calling them “a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also weighed in, saying the layoffs were “part of a broader reprehensible pattern in which corporate decisions are hollowing out newsrooms across the country.”

Pelosi added that “a free press cannot fulfill its mission if it is starved of the resources it needs to survive,” and warned that weakening newsrooms harms the broader republic.

The cuts follow years of industry challenges, including declining print circulation, shifts in digital traffic and competition from other platforms.

Unlike its longtime competitor, The New York Times, which has expanded ancillary offerings and grown its newsroom in recent years, The Post is now recalibrating what it considers core coverage.