When Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013, employees and management were ecstatic. The Post had the chance to be the national newspaper it had been decades ago. It has made great progress over the years since the Bezos purchase. However, recent events show that The Washington Post\u2019s best years are behind it. It joins the army of daily newspapers that have had to cut costs to remain financially viable. This is bound to undermine the editorial quality of the paper.<\/p>\n
The Bezos-owned Post started to make money. It also created an ad management system that was so good that it was licensed to other papers. This product, known as Zeus, has lost some of its luster. According to Axios, it will be folded into the Post\u2019s advertising operations. Axios reported: \u201cFolding Zeus into the Post\u2019s existing ad sales team ends its efforts to make money by licensing its ad tech software to other premium publishers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Post\u2019s challenges go well beyond software. The New York Times reported that the Post would lose money this year. The number of digital subscribers, critical to recent growth, has started to fall. There were hints in August that the Post would start to shave costs, which meant layoffs. These layoffs have started recently. The Washington Post Magazine was shuttered, and the entire staff was fired. The Post\u2019s publisher gave the staff more bad news last week.<\/p>\n
Publisher Fred Ryan said the Post would lay off workers next year to the tune of what he described as single digits. Then he fled the meeting where he made these comments. Staff confusion has caused turmoil that could be permanent.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t