Oct 30, 2024 - Business

WaPo subscribers flee en masse after Bezos' endorsement decision

Rebecca Falconer

Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos delivers remarks during the opening ceremony of the media company's new location January 28, 2016 in Washington, DC. — Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Washington Post has seen at least 250,000 readers cancel their subscriptions after owner Jeff Bezos ended a decades-long tradition of endorsing presidential candidates, the newspaper reported late Tuesday.

Why it matters: That figure represents 10% of 2.5 million subscribers the paper had before Bezos announced the decision after the WaPo editorial board had drafted an endorsement of Vice President Harris, per the report.

State of play: While WaPo has not publicly commented on how many ended subscriptions, the report cited two people familiar with the figures saying there had been a "huge spike in the number of subscribers looking to cancel online" from Friday, after WaPo CEO and publisher William Lewis announced the end of presidential endorsements.

NPR reported on Monday that over 200,000 readers had canceled digital WaPo subscriptions in the wake of the announcement.

The big picture: Bezos' decision prompted three of WaPo's 10-member editorial board to announce they're stepping down from the board with the intention of remaining at the paper in other roles.

Editor at large Robert Kagan also resigned in protest and at least 21 opinion section columnists signed onto a statement saying their employer's "refusal to endorse a presidential candidate is a mistake."
Bezos defended his decision in an op-ed Monday, writing that presidential endorsements "do nothing to tip the scales of an election" and that they "create a perception of bias."

Go deeper: Chaos erupts as newspapers axe endorsements

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WaPo subscribers flee en masse after Bezos' endorsement decision

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