Washington Post Publisher Steps Down a Year After Bezos Acquisition

Image: Evan Vucci/Associated Press

By Seth Fiegerman2014-09-02 13:48:20 UTC

It's the end of an era for The Washington Post.

The Post announced Tuesday that its publisher Katharine Weymouth is stepping down after 17 years with the company and a lifetime of having the paper in her blood. It was Weymouth's great-grandfather who bought The Post 81 years ago; the family has served as stewards of the publication ever since.

Jeff Bezos, the Amazon CEO who acquired The Post for $250 million almost a year ago, praised Weymouth's leadership and thanked her for "agreeing to stay on" in the role of publisher during his first year as owner.

"I am so grateful to Katharine for agreeing to stay on as Publisher this past year," Bezos said in a statement. "She has successfully led many new initiatives and assured that the first ownership change of this great institution in 80 years has been done smoothly and without skipping a beat."

Bezos is replacing Weymouth with Fred Ryan, the founding CEO and president of Politico, a political news site founded by former Post employees to challenge The Post and others. Ryan previously worked in the White House during Ronald Reagan's presidency.

In a memo to employees, Weymouth noted her "mixed emotions" on leaving, but stressed that The Post is in a strong position. "Now it is time for new leadership," she said in the memo."With Jeff Bezos as our new owner, you are already seeing an infusion of energy and ideas. This is just the beginning of a wonderful new chapter for The Post."

The team at The Post has been working to improve its desktop and mobile properties and announced last month that it had record online traffic in the month of July.

Here is the full memo Weymouth sent to Washington Post employees:

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Washington Post Publisher Steps Down a Year After Bezos Acquisition