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Veteran British media impresario Sir Will Lewis has been appointed the new publisher and chief executive of The Washington Post, as the newspaper group owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos looks to revive its fortunes.
Louis54, has held several prominent jobs in the media industry, including editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph, publisher of Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal, and CEO of Dow Jones.
He recently co-founded the News Movement, an organization that seeks to provide reliable information on platforms with large young audiences, such as TikTok and YouTube.
The former Financial Times journalist was also vying to buy the Daily Telegraph, which went up for sale last month. In September, Lewis told Bloomberg that he had done so Financing lined up To get a bid for the paper. It plans to withdraw from the bidding process, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Lewis will begin his new position at The Washington Post on January 2, replacing interim CEO Patty Stonecipher. American newspapers have been searching for a new permanent president since the departure this summer of Fred Ryan, who was CEO and publisher for nearly a decade.
Bezos said in a statement that Lewis was “an exceptional and tenacious industry executive, and his background in aggressive, award-winning journalism makes him the right leader at the right time.”
“Leading this bold media brand means building on my commitment to supporting quality journalism and protecting our democratic values,” Lewis said.
By joining The Washington Post, Lewis adds to the ranks of British executives at the helm of major media organizations in the United States. Earlier this year, former BBC director-general Mark Thompson became chief executive of CNN, while Emma Tucker was appointed editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal in December last year.
After enjoying a surge in subscriptions during Donald Trump’s presidency, The Washington Post has seen growth falter recently. Last month, Stonesifer, a board member at Amazon, He told the staff It said forecasts for growth in advertising, Internet traffic and subscriptions were “overly optimistic”, and announced plans to reduce headcount by about 10 percent through voluntary redundancies.
Lewis was awarded a knighthood earlier this year “for his political and public service”, having served as an adviser to former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
During his time as editor, Lewis and The Telegraph won several awards for his investigation into the abuse of expenses by members of the British Parliament.
Shortly after Lewis took over as managing director of Murdoch’s newspaper business in the UK in 2010, one of the company’s publications – the tabloid News of the World – was hit by an illegal phone hacking scandal. After less than a year on the job, Lewis was seconded to an independent committee within Murdoch’s media empire responsible for handling the company’s response.
Additional reporting by Daniel Thomas in London
“Devoted student. Bacon advocate. Beer scholar. Troublemaker. Falls down a lot. Typical coffee enthusiast.”