Jeff Bezos’ Takeover Of ‘Washington Post’ Opinion Section Prompts Loss of 75K Digital Subscribers

'The Washington Post' has been losing subscribers in droves since October 2024.

The Washington Post dropped more than 75,000 in digital subscribers after owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos took over the opinion section on Feb. 26 to boost his conservative views.

An anonymous insider revealed the massive loss in subscriptions days after Bezos announced his plans to overhaul the paper’s opinion pages to radically reflect libertarian priorities and exclude opposing points of view, NPR reports.

The announcement prompted the immediate resignation of opinions editor David Shipley, who couldn’t convince Bezos to abandon the plans.

Longtime figures at the outlet, including Associate Editor David Maraniss and former Executive Editor Marty Baron, opposed the decision. Baron described it as “craven” and argued that Bezos, whom he had previously praised in his 2023 memoir, was “basically fearful” of Donald Trump.

The swift cancellations are part of a broader wave that began in late October when Bezos scrapped a planned endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Between then and Election Day, over 300,000 subscribers canceled their Post subscriptions, representing more than 12% of its digital subscribers, who make up the majority of the paper’s paid circulation.

Despite these setbacks, The Post has actively attracted new subscribers with heavily discounted rates, bringing in 400,000 new subscribers, an anonymous executive revealed. However, there is still widespread agreement within the organization that, had it not been for Bezos’ conservative-driven decisions, the paper would have gained hundreds of thousands additional paying subscribers since before the election without the brutal losses.

In his recent announcement, Bezos said “we are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.” The message comes as Bezos, who purchased the paper for $250 million in 2013, has increasingly overridden editorial decisions and cultivated a culture of apparent censorship of views opposing his own.

In January, Washington Post editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes resigned after editors pulled a satirical cartoon that mocked Bezos and other media and tech giants for their loyalty to President Donald Trump. In early February, the paper also canceled a planned “Fire Elon” advertisement.