Who Is Jeff D’Onofrio? The Washington Post's Newly Appointed CEO After Mass Layoffs

Jeff D' Onofrio has been appointed as the acting publisher and CEO of The Washington Post, one of the most well-renowned publications in the United States, after the exit of Will Lewis from the helm of operations.

The change in leadership comes after the company has reportedly lost $177 million in the last two years, and days post a layoff, comprising a third of its staff, including US-based journalists, and foreign correspondents.

In a note to staff, D’Onofrio penned, "We are ending a hard week of change with more change. This is a challenging time across all media organizations, and The Post is unfortunately no exception."

“I've had the privilege of helping chart the course of disrupters and cultural stalwarts alike. All faced economic headwinds in changing industry landscapes, and we rose to meet those moments. I have no doubt we will do just that, together," he said.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post Guild has said hundreds of its members were laid off “without rhyme or reason,” resulting in widespread criticism and condemnation from figures such as US Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

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What You Need To Know About Jeff D’Onofrio?

Jeff D’Onofrio is associated with The Washington Post since talking up the position of Chief Financial Officer in June last year. According to his Linkeldn profile, Jeff D'Onofrio is a digital media executive with extensive experience as a CEO, COO and CFO.

He worked in several divisions of the media world such as social media, digital media, news, sports, advertising, and e-commerce with Tumblr, Google, Zagat, Yahoo, Major League Baseball and Ernst & Young. He served as the CFO at Raptive, a digital ad management company, where he oversaw finance, HR, and data and analytics teams, and worked on partnerships and acquisitions that helped drive revenue growth, before The WaPo.

He briefly served as general manager of Yahoo News when the platform was owned by Verizon, however, his most distinguished role was back in 2012, when he was appointed CEO of Tumblr. During his tenure, Tumblr attempted to reposition itself by banning adult content, a move that was followed by a reported 30 per cent drop in traffic.

Layoffs To Key Role Changes: What's Brewing At The Washington Post?

Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, who bought The Washington Post in 2013, appointed Will Lewis, a ex-Wall Street Journal publisher, and CEO. Lewis’ tenure proved contentious, culminating in this week’s layoffs and his subsequent exit.

“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 said in an internal memo to the employees. Lewis was appointed CEO and publisher in 2023.

D’Onofrio now takes over as acting CEO and Publisher with intimate knowledge of the Post’s finances, having served as CFO for the past nine months.