The Washington Post informed its staff on Wednesday that it was starting a widespread layoff that would gut its sports department and shrink the international footprint, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Executive Editor Matt Murray announced the job cuts on a call with employees, the source said, requesting anonymity as the matter was private.

“We will be closing the sports department in its current form,” Murray said in a company-wide call that began at 8:30 a.m. ET. The call transcript was shared with Reuters by the source.

“All departments are impacted. Politics and government will remain our largest desk and will remain central to our engagement and subscriber growth.”

The Post did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The layoff comes days after the more than 145-year-old newspaper scaled back its coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics amid mounting financial losses.

News outlets are struggling to maintain a sustainable business model after the internet upended the economics of journalism, shifting trust toward creators and causing digital ad rates to tank.

To navigate the challenges, the Washington Post made changes across several business functions and announced job cuts last year, saying the reductions would not impact its newsroom.

The newspaper, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, had offered voluntary separation packages to employees across all functions in 2023 amid losses of $100 million.

“If Jeff Bezos is no longer willing to invest in the mission that has defined this paper for generations and serve the millions who depend on Post journalism, then The Post deserves a steward that will,” the WaPo Guild said on X.

The Post’s White House staff said in a letter to Bezos last week that their most impactful coverage depends heavily on collaboration with teams at risk of job cuts and that a diversified newsroom is essential when the paper faces financial challenges.

Bezos said in 2013 when he bought the newspaper that he would preserve its journalistic tradition and would not lead its day-to-day operations. But there “will, of course, be change” over the coming years, he had said.

In recent years, The Post has clashed with some of its journalists, who have openly criticized Bezos after the newspaper decided not to endorse a candidate in the November 2024 U.S. presidential election, leading to more than 200,000 people canceling their digital subscriptions.

The newspaper, which appointed William Lewis as its CEO in early 2024, also revamped its opinion section last year, shifting focus on “personal liberties and free markets.”

Bezos was among the several tech executives seen as making overtures to U.S. President Donald Trump last year. He was seated prominently at Trump’s inauguration, underscoring his shifting ties.

Trump, who was a frequent critic of Bezos during his first term – over what the Republican president deemed unfair coverage by The Post – praised the tech billionaire in March last year, saying Bezos was doing “a real job” with the publication.

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(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh and Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Arun Koyyur)