Bezos focused on surviving Trump over saving Washington Post, ex-staffer says
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A former employee of The Washington Post is targeting the paper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, accusing him of prioritizing survival in the Donald Trump era over saving his newspaper.
In a piece titled “The Surrender of a Billionaire” published Tuesday, former Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler began by highlighting Bezos’ net worth, noting that it was worth $25 billion in 2013 when he first bought the newspaper, and is now worth “about $250 billion” as major layoffs are expected to shake the newsroom.
“Bezos is a businessman and the Washington Post is not a charity, so I understand the temptation to demand a stop-losses. The newsroom should be able to stand on its own two feet,” Kessler said. wrote In your substack. “But even if losses for a person of Bezos’ wealth were still around $100 million a year (a figure announced a few years ago), that would mean he would have to close the place in 2,500 years.”
He continued, “I don’t think the layoffs have much to do with saving money. After all, Amazon spent $75 million to buy and promote a documentary about Melania Trump. This is about the power and influence of Donald Trump’s second term.”
WASHINGTON POST STAFF FEELING ‘BETRAYED’ IN UMORROW, LAYINGS ARE COMING ROCK BILLIONAIRE JEFF BEZOS’ NEWSROOM
A former Washington Post employee accused his former billionaire boss Jeff Bezos of prioritizing self-preservation over saving the newspaper during the Trump era. ((Photo: Karwai Tang/WireImage) ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images)
Kessler, who made the voluntary purchase last summer after working at the newspaper for 27 years, recalled being part of a small group of Post journalists who had lunch with Bezos after the 2016 election and was asked if he had any concerns about Trump seeking revenge as president.
Kessler said, “Bezos acknowledged that Trump would assume that any negative story about him was made up by Bezos, because that’s what Trump would do if he owned a newspaper. But he said that wasn’t our problem. We just needed to write the best stories possible; if Trump got angry, he could handle the heat.” “Those were comforting words at the time. As far as I know, Bezos did not interfere with any news during his 13 years as owner, not even stories critical of Amazon or coverage of Bezos’s personal life, let alone politics. For many years he appeared to have little interest in the editorial page, even though as owner he could dictate opinion page policy he wanted.”
WASHINGTON POST EMPLOYEES ASK BILLIONAIRE OWNER JEFF BEZOS TO SAVE THE NEWSPAPER IN CASE OF MAJOR LAYINGS.
Glenn Kessler left the Washington Post last summer after 27 years at the paper. (Washington Post)
Despite Trump’s vocal hostility toward the Post, Bezos “remained unyielding,” according to Kessler, citing his then-new slogan “Democracy Died in Darkness” and increasing staffing during Trump’s first term in office.
“I would say he seems to have embraced the idea that he is the director of a public foundation,” Kessler told readers. “Although Joe Biden was no fan of the tech industry, presidential-level threats disappeared with Trump’s defeat in 2020. But when Trump ran again and Democrats were on the hook, Bezos’ calculations changed. He could afford Trump’s first term; a second could be devastating, especially when his main rival in the space business, Elon Musk, embraces Trump.”
“I used to think billionaires had enough ‘f— your’ money to do whatever they wanted. But in Trump’s creeping autocracy and revenge campaign, billionaires have a lot to lose,” he added.
EDITORIAL REVIEW: THE WASHINGTON POST’S NEW OPINION CHIEF MAKES YOU FEEL THE WEIGHT OF THE CHALLENGES AHEAD
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has faced intense backlash as his newspaper continues to face financial problems. (Stefano Rellandini/AFP via Getty Images)
Kessler said Bezos “became less interested in The Post,” noting that while the newspaper’s biggest rival, The New York Times, was making smart business decisions like buying The Athletic and Wordle, the billionaire “diverted attention to his new love, Lauren Sánchez, whom he married in Venice last year in a $50 million extravaganza.”
“Bezos, no longer busy, appears to have adopted a crude calculus: Laying off staff and trimming the sails of a once-great news organization sends a message to an audience at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, even if the decision devastates the lives of scores of talented reporters and editors,” Kessler wrote, before accusing Bezos of working too hard “to curry favor with Trump,” referring to Trump’s $1 million contribution to Trump’s inauguration. Visit to Mar-a-Lago.
Fox News Digital has reached out to representatives for Bezos and The Washington Post for comment.
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Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez at the Dior fashion show as part of the Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2026 held at Musée Rodin in Paris, France on January 26, 2025. (Swan Gallet/WWD via Getty Images)
The criticism comes as Washington Post employees brace for draconian layoffs that could happen as soon as this week.
Reports suggest the cuts could see hundreds of staff laid off and many departments, including sports and external affairs teams, gutted.
Bezos drew anger from employees In 2024, when the newspaper abruptly canceled its planned endorsement of Kamala Harris for the White House after the editorial board had previously declared Trump the worst president in modern history.
Surprising decision shortly before the start of the election Huge subscriber losses and numerous staff resignations. The outrage grew further when Bezos later announced he would overhaul the editorial pages to support “free markets and civil liberties.”
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