Weymouth Named Publisher of 'Wash Post' -- Buyouts Coming

By: E&P Staff The Washington Post Co. announced this morning that Katharine Weymouth will step in as publisher of the flagship paper and washingtonpost.com. She was also named CEO of Washington Post Media, a newly created unit that includes oversight of the Washington Post and its Web site.

Weymouth succeeds Boisfeuillet Jones Jr., who was named vice chairman of the company and chairman of the Washington Post.

The company also announced voluntary buyouts to be offered in March to some employees "in light of the current economic environment and to assure the future strength of the business," according to a release. The newspaper is closing its College Park, Md., printing plant in early 2010, after two presses are moved to its Springfield, Va., facility.

Weymouth, who previously served as vice president of advertising at the Washington Post, will report to Donald Graham, chairman and CEO of the company. Washington Post President and General Manager Stephen P. Hills, Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr., and CEO of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Caroline Little will report to Weymouth.

"Katharine is ready for this," Graham said in a statement. "She is Kay Graham's granddaughter, but that is not why she's getting the job. She's had a rare combination of big jobs at both the newspaper and the digital company. In all those jobs, she has shown herself to be smart, decisive, modest, and a great manager of people."

The Post, in an report today, observed, that she is "the fifth member of the Graham newspaper dynasty to hold that title since her great-grandfather, Eugene Meyer, bought the Post at a bankruptcy sale in 1933. She is the niece of Post Co. Chairman Donald E. Graham and the daughter of Newsweek senior editor Lally Weymouth. She is the daughter of architect Yann Weymouth."

The Post offered buyouts in 2003 and 2006, "which culled about 120 employees," the paper reports today. "Buyouts are designed to reduce payroll by offering exit packages to older employees, who tend to have higher salaries. The March buyout offer will be extended to Guild-covered and management employees, the company said. No details of the plan were released today, but some general information may be available later in the month, the company said, with details to come in March."

After receiving a law degree from Stanford, Weymouth, 41, clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She also practiced law at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C. She joined the newspaper in 1996 as general counsel.

She served as associate counsel at the company's Interactive division before moving to the advertising department. "While it is humbling to follow in the footsteps of my ancestors, it is also very exciting," Weymouth said in an interview with the paper. "I will do my best to honor their legacy and uphold the tradition they built of journalistic excellence supported by a first-rate business operation."

Graham said about Jones, who will remain actively involved in the company, "Bo and I worked side by side at the newspaper for 20 years, when I was publisher and he was my principal counselor. I look forward to getting him here to work with me in the corporate office."

Jones will focus primarily on strategic opportunities and "challenges facing the company as a whole," said the release.