William Lewis named as new Washington Post publisher/CEO

William Lewis, a former reporter turned executive, has been named the new CEO and publisher of The Washington Post, the company announced Saturday.

Lewis has spent years working in British media and for Rupert Murdoch-owned companies, the Post reported. He was CEO of Dow Jones and the publisher of the Wall Street Journal for six years and successfully grew the company’s digital subscribers.

Amazon founder and owner of the Post Jeff Bezos emailed staff on Saturday, naming Lewis as a new leader, and said he was a “strong fit” for the job.

The news organization reported that Lewis also created a startup, the News Movement, which aims at delivering news to younger audiences via social media.

He had a career as a reporter and editor of The Daily Telegraph in England. In 2010, he joined the Murdoch-owned News Corp. and helped address the company’s police bribery scandal.

The newspaper has experienced a drop in audiences and subscribers and left executives offering buyouts to reduce its staff by 10 percent. The company is projected to take a $100 million loss by the end of the year.

Fred Ryan stepped down earlier in the year after overseeing the company’s rapid growth since being purchased by Bezos in 2013.

Lewis will begin on Jan. 2, 2024, after he makes the move from both New York and London to Washington, D.C., where the news organization is headquartered, the Post reported.

This story was updated 11/5 at 10:21 a.m.