Buzbee's departure comes after the publisher told employees that the newspaper lost $77 million last year.
The top editor of The Washington Post, Sally Buzbee, resigned after three years at the helm of one of the most historic publications in the United States.
Buzbee will be replaced by Matt Murray, former editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, until the conclusion of the 2024 US presidential election in November, the newspaper said in a statement on its website on Sunday.
Robert Winnett, deputy editor of the UK-based Telegraph Media Group, will take over as executive editor after the election, the newspaper said.
The Post also announced that it would launch “a new newsroom division” focused on services and social media journalism that will serve audiences who want to consume and pay for news in a different way than the traditional model.
No reason was given for Buzbee's departure and the Post's announcement did not include any statement from her.
CEO and publisher William Lewis, who joined the Post in January, described Buzbee as an “incredible leader and extremely talented media executive who will be deeply missed.”
“I wish him all the best in the future,” Lewis said.
Murray said he was “deeply honored” to take on the role and thanked Buzbee for his leadership.
“I'm excited about Will and Jeff's vision for the Post's next era of growth and reinvention and can't wait to get started,” he said, referring to the Post's owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The restructuring comes as the Post, like other media companies, has been struggling with falling revenue.
Last month, Lewis told a public company meeting that the newspaper was losing subscribers and had lost $77 million last year.
“To put it bluntly, we are in a hole and have been for some time,” Lewis told employees, according to the Post.
As part of efforts to improve the newspaper's finances, Lewis proposed the creation of a membership program and subscription tiers called Post Pro and Post Plus.
Buzbee, the first female executive editor in the Post's 144-year history, replaced Marty Baron in 2021 after more than three decades at The Associated Press.
Under Buzbee's leadership, the Post won six Pulitzer Prizes, three of them last month.
