Patty Stonesifer, the founding chief executive of the Gates Foundation and a director on Amazon’s board, was named interim CEO by The Post on Monday, starting immediately, and leading the search for Ryan’s replacement.
In an interview, Ryan said he has long been interested in issues at the core of the center’s mission, saying “the decline of civility threatens the foundation of our democracy.” A former Reagan administration official, Ryan called it “a bookend for something I did early in my career.”
He also said he has Bezos’ full support in this move, saying their relationship “couldn’t be closer.” The founder of Amazon shares his passion for solving the destruction of civilization in all aspects of public life, Ryan said, adding that Bezos provided the initial funding for the planning and design of the center. (Ryan would not disclose the amount but called it “a very meaningful gift.”)
In a memo to Post staff, Bezos said he was “very grateful” to Ryan for leading The Post and praised him for focusing on “the intersection of journalism and technology.”
In his own note to the staff, Ryan wrote that “together, we have accomplished one of the most remarkable transformations in the history of modern media,” as The Post “transformed from the primary local print newspaper to become a global digital publication.”
Ryan leaves The Post in a tumultuous time in the media industry of layoffs and declining audience numbers, to which The Post is not immune. Ryan said his departure had “nothing to do with that” and “I firmly believe there is a good model for successful journalism and the Washington Post is well positioned to do that,” he added. “I have no doubt that high-quality journalism at the standard of The Washington Post will always be successful.”
Bezos’ 2013 purchase of The Post was a watershed event for the media company, ending 80 years of Graham family control as he took the company private. One of his first big moves was to hire Ryan, the founding CEO of Politico, whom he charged with expanding the reach of The Post’s ambitions into a national and global news operation.
At the time, the majority of The Post’s revenue came from its print business, and it had about 35,000 digital subscribers. Today, Ryan said, the majority of The Post’s revenue comes from its digital business, and it has about 2 million digital subscribers.
Ryan led The Post during a period of rapid expansion, growing from nearly 600 newsroom staff to nearly double its current size.
One of his biggest responsibilities will be hiring a new executive editor to replace Martin Baron, who is retiring in 2021. Ryan chose Sally Buzbee, the former top executive at the Associated Press, who became the first woman to serve as executive editor of The Post.
His tenure also coincided with the tumultuous years of Trump’s presidency, when The Post and other media companies saw record levels of digital traffic and a boom in subscriptions. In the final weeks of the Trump administration in January 2021, The Post counted 3 million digital subscribers.
But those numbers leveled off after Trump left office and the coronavirus pandemic hit. The Post ended last year in the red after what Ryan called six years of “significant growth and profitability.” (The Post is a private company that does not disclose its financials.)
Ryan oversaw several cuts in his final months as publisher, including the elimination of the Sunday magazine, KidsPost’s children’s section and a section dedicated to video game coverage. At a town hall in December, Ryan angered some Post employees after he announced layoffs in January then refused to ask questions about the anticipated job losses, which ultimately affected 20 staffers.
Before Ryan came to the company, Post reporter Jason Rezaian was arrested in Iran on false espionage charges. To build a campaign for his release, Ryan met with White House officials and asked foreign leaders visiting The Post to pressure Iran to release the journalist. After 545 days in prison, Rezaian was released in January 2016 in a prisoner swap.
“We have to keep Jason’s situation moving forward,” Ryan said in a 2019 Post documentary about Rezaian’s arrest.
In his Monday memo about Ryan’s exit, Bezos called Ryan a “relentless force” for the release of captured journalists.
In a statement, Stonesifer said: “I have respect and passion for the mission and journalism of The Washington Post – one of the world’s greatest newsrooms – and I am delighted to join this team in supporting the values and continue the work of this important institution.”
This is a breaking news story that will be updated.
