Jeff Bezos told Trump the Washington Post was his 'worst investment' before authorizing sweeping staff cuts

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos told then-President-elect Donald Trump at a December 2024 dinner that The Washington Post was his "worst investment," venting about the newspaper's leadership months before he authorized sweeping staff reductions, according to a forthcoming book by New York Times journalists Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman.

During the dinner, Bezos expressed frustration with the people managing the Post's business side, which had lost more than $100 million that year. "The people there are terrible," Bezos said, contrasting the Post's leadership with his other companies. "They don't listen. My other companies, they listen." Trump, who had repeatedly criticized the Post's coverage, shared his own complaints, telling Bezos: "This Washington Post is really unfair. You've got to take better care." Though both men expressed dissatisfaction with the newspaper, their concerns stemmed from different motivations—Bezos focused on financial performance and management competence, while Trump objected to editorial coverage he perceived as biased.

The dinner conversation preceded a series of changes at the Post. In January 2025, the newspaper eliminated 4% of its staff, primarily in advertising. Two months after the December dinner, Bezos ordered the opinion section to promote "two pillars: personal liberties and free markets," a directive that came after the Post withheld its endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, sparking subscriber cancellations and internal backlash. In February 2025, Bezos authorized a major restructuring that eliminated roughly one-third of the newsroom workforce, including all staff photographers, the sports section, books coverage, and several foreign bureaus. Executive editor Matt Murray told staff, "We can't be everything to everyone."

Trump later told the book's authors that he initially believed Bezos personally controlled the Post's coverage during his first administration. "He said they write stories about him. And I didn't believe him the first time, first term. And I hated him for it," Trump recalled. "And then I believed him." Regarding the friendship cost Trump mentioned, the authors noted that Bezos contested this characterization, stating that people close to him had urged him to sell the newspaper rather than that he had lost friendships.

Following the layoffs, Will Lewis, the Post's publisher and CEO whom Bezos had paid a $3 million salary, departed days after the restructuring was announced. Jeff D'Onofrio, previously the chief financial officer, was named interim CEO and publisher. D'Onofrio has pursued new revenue streams through content licensing deals with OpenAI, Apple News+, and Alexa+. A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment on the reported dinner conversation.