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Who is Jeff D’Onofrio, Washington Post’s acting CEO and publisher?
Finance executive steps up as critics condemn sweeping mass layoff
WASHINGTON: The Washington Post has appointed Jeff D’Onofrio as its acting CEO and publisher following the departure of Will Lewis, whose tenure ended this week after a sweeping round of newsroom layoffs.
D’Onofrio, the Post’s CFO since June 2025, assumes the top role at a moment of acute turbulence. The leadership change comes days after the newspaper cut roughly a third of its staff, including foreign correspondents and US-based reporters, prompting sharp criticism from politicians and media unions.
US senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were among those who condemned the cuts, which have intensified scrutiny of the paper’s direction under owner Jeff Bezos.
In a note to staff, D’Onofrio acknowledged the scale of disruption, writing that the organisation was ending “a hard week of change with more change”. He cited broader economic pressures across the media industry while urging employees to focus on navigating the downturn together.
A finance executive by training, D’Onofrio has spent much of his career in technology, advertising and digital media rather than traditional journalism. Before joining the Post, he served as CFO at Raptive, a digital advertising management firm, overseeing finance, human resources and data functions.
His most prominent role was at Tumblr, where he held multiple senior positions including CEO between 2017 and 2022. During that period, the platform banned adult content, a decision followed by a reported 30 per cent fall in traffic. Tumblr, acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 billion in 2013, was later sold to Automattic in 2019 for less than $3 million.
Earlier in his career, D’Onofrio held senior roles at Google, Yahoo, Zagat and Major League Baseball Advanced Media, and briefly served as general manager of Yahoo News under Verizon ownership.
The Washington Post Guild said hundreds of members were laid off “without rhyme or reason”, adding to pressure on management as the newsroom grapples with repeated rounds of cuts.
Bezos acquired the Washington Post in 2013 and initially expanded its newsroom and digital ambitions. But declining advertising revenue and softer subscription growth have since forced retrenchment. In 2023, the paper eliminated about 240 roles, largely through buyouts. Appointed CEO and publisher Will Lewis that year, exits after a contentious tenure now overshadowed by the latest cuts.
D’Onofrio takes over with detailed knowledge of the Post’s finances, having spent the past nine months at the centre of its restructuring efforts.
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Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
