Washington Post publisher paints “stark picture” of The Post’s finances, reports The Post

In a presentation to employees on May 22, Washington Post publisher Will Lewis “painted a stark picture of The Post’s finances, revealing that the publication has lost $77 million over the last year and has been bleeding digital readers for several years. “To speak candidly: We are in a hole, and we have been for some time,” he said.” reports The Post.

Still, continued the Post story, Lewis expressed optimism about The Post’s long-term outlook in rolling out the plan, which is intended to take the publication through the end of the year. “This is all repairable, all doable, particularly if we do it together,” he said.

To address the current situation, The Post announced plans “to create new tiers of subscription offerings, in a bid to draw more money from the publication’s readership and to help address a significant revenue shortfall.

“While few details were provided about pricing and timing, the new offerings will include a membership program and new subscription tiers called Post Pro and Post Plus. While some tiers will be primarily marketed to the current base of individual subscribers, others will be focused on generating new revenue from companies.

“Such a model has worked effectively at the political news publication Politico, which has long promoted its “Politico Pro” service geared toward high-priced corporate subscriptions. The Post is also exploring a “flexible payment” option to make it easier for readers to pay for news, since executives said it’s been a challenge to extract revenue from online readers who have not subscribed.”