Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth exits
Katharine Weymouth, heir to the Washington Post publishing dynasty, is to part ways with the paper first founded by her great grandfather in 1933, following the $250m purchase of the title by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos last year.
Weymouth had published the title since 2009 and negotiated the sale of the paper in 2013 but has now decided to step down as publisher by the end of the month, although will remain on board as an adviser until the end of the year.
In her place will be Frederick J. Ryan Jr, a founding editor of Politico and a former senior adviser to Ronald Reagan.
Commenting on the managerial shift Bezos said: “I welcome Fred and thank him for agreeing to become the Post’s next publisher and CEO. I know he’s excited to meet the team and roll up his sleeves.”
The Washington Post reported its largest single month of web traffic in history in July when it welcomed 39.5m unique users, a 63 per cent rise year on year.