Hundreds of journalists working with The Washington Post were shown the door in the latest layoffs at the Jeff Bezos-owned legacy newspaper. Among them was also a reporter dedicated to covering Amazon, the trillion-dollar company founded by the billionaire entrepreneur.
Caroline O'Donovan, who joined The Post in 2022, reported on technology companies and corporate accountability, with a particular focus on Amazon. The job cuts were part of a sweeping restructuring, which reduced the newsroom by roughly 30 per cent.
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Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million.
Throughout her reporting, O'Donovan consistently included a disclosure noting Bezos' ownership of the Post, which appeared in nearly every Amazon-related story. She commented that readers were often surprised by the newspaper's aggressive coverage of the company. Her final article, published on January 28, examined Amazon layoffs that affected at least 16,000 employees.
On Thursday, O'Donovan confirmed her layoff, saying that the ownership disclosure she routinely included now “seems especially stark.”
“Today I was laid off from my job covering Amazon for Jeff Bezos's Washington Post,” she wrote in a thread on X. “Nearly every story I published at The Post included the disclaimer ‘Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.' That statement seems especially stark today. Readers of my work consistently shared their surprise that The Post would cover Amazon so closely. I guess that's over now.”
In the days before her exit, she also reported on the political influence of major tech executives, including Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's public interactions with US President Donald Trump. She had recently travelled to Minneapolis to cover the Trump administration's immigration enforcement actions amid heightened political tensions.
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In a statement, the Washington Post said it was undertaking “difficult but decisive actions” as part of a significant restructuring aimed at focusing on areas where it had historically been strongest, including national politics, government, and national security reporting. Executive Editor Matt Murray told staff the changes were intended to position the paper more competitively in an increasingly crowded media landscape.
The Washington Post was long celebrated for its investigative reporting that helped bring down US President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. The downsizing comes amid growing pressures on US media, including attacks from Trump, who has repeatedly called journalists “fake news” and filed multiple lawsuits over coverage.
