The Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos, has launched a sweeping round of layoffs as it continues to face financial difficulties in recent years.

The cuts, announced during a video call with staff, underscore the newspaper’s ongoing struggle to achieve sustainable profitability in the digital era, the New York Times reported. While the Post expanded in the early years of Bezos’s ownership, it has encountered mounting challenges more recently.

“The steps we are taking include a broad strategic restructuring with significant staff reductions,” executive editor Matt Murray told employees during the call.

According to a source cited by Agence France-Presse, many foreign correspondents will be laid off, with the sports and local news desks among the hardest hit. “The entire team” covering the Middle East, along with most foreign correspondents, will lose their jobs, one affected employee told AFP.

The newspaper’s union, the Post Guild, warned that the layoffs would have serious consequences. “You cannot dismantle a newsroom without consequences for its credibility, influence, and future,” the union said, noting that the Post’s workforce has already been reduced by about 400 employees over the past three years. The union said it “strongly opposes any further reductions.”

The Washington Post—renowned for its reporting on the Watergate scandal and the recipient of multiple Pulitzer Prizes—has been grappling with a prolonged crisis.

In late 2023, Bezos appointed Will Lewis as publisher in an effort to restore profitability as the paper struggled with declining readership and falling subscriptions. Lewis has pursued various initiatives, including the use of artificial intelligence to expand commentary, podcasts, and news aggregation.