The Washington Post has appointed Jeff D’Onofrio as its acting publisher and chief executive officer, effective immediately. This follows the departure of chief executive Will Lewis. The newspaper confirmed the leadership change in a statement posted on February 8.
D’Onofrio, who joined The Washington Post as chief financial officer in June of last year. (Jeff D’Onofrio/LinkedIn)Lewis resigned days after the Post announced that it would cut about one-third of its workforce, significantly reducing its sports and international coverage. The layoffs prompted protests outside the Post’s Washington, D.C. headquarters and drew criticism from reporters and former editors.
According to the BBC, Lewis told staff that the “time was right” to leave as “difficult decisions” had been made to protect the magazine’s future.
D’Onofrio, who joined The Washington Post as chief financial officer in June of last year, now assumes the role.
Who is Jeff D’Onofrio?According to his LinkedIn profile, D’Onofrio is a digital media executive with experience serving as chief executive, chief financial officer and chief operating officer. His career spans live streaming, social media, news, advertising and e-commerce.
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He has held senior roles at Tumblr, Google, Yahoo, Major League Baseball and Ernst & Young. His listed areas of expertise include executive management, strategic planning, business development and operational leadership.
D’Onofrio served as Tumblr’s chief executive from 2017 to 2022, following a brief stint as general manager of Yahoo News when Yahoo was owned by Verizon. According to The Verge, his leadership at Tumblr included the decision to ban adult content in an effort to reposition the platform.
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The Verge reported that the move resulted in a significant drop in user traffic. Tumblr was later sold to WordPress owner Automattic in 2019 for a fraction of the $1.1 billion it paid for the platform in 2013.
D’Onofrio joined The Washington Post in 2025 as chief financial officer. According to The Verge, his tenure as CFO coincided with larger cost-cutting measures under owner Jeff Bezos.
