BREAKING: Washington Post CEO Will Lewis resigns amid mass firings, replaced by former Tumblr CEO

"All - after two years of transformation at The Washington Post, now is the right time for me to step aside. I want to thank Jeff Bezos for his support and leadership throughout my tenure as CEO and Publisher. The institution could not have a better owner," Lewis wrote in an email to colleagues.

"During my tenure, difficult decisions have been taken in order to ensure the sustainable future of The Post so it can for many years ahead publish high-quality nonpartisan news to millions of customers each day," he added.

Axios reports that Jeff D'Onofrio has been named as acting CEO and publisher. In a note to staff at the outlet, D'Onofrio said, "We are ending a hard week of change with more change. This is a challenging time across all media organizations, and The Post is unfortunately no exception."

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"I'm honored to take the helm as acting Publisher and CEO to lead us into a sustainable, successful future with the strength of our journalism as our north star," he added in the message to employees.

As the layoffs have been taking place, employees have been critical of Lewis, who was seen at a Super Bowl event on Thursday as the layoffs were announced. According to the outlet, Lewis' tension with the newsroom as well as the opinion section rejiggered by Jeff Bezos contributed to the exodus of staff.

Lewis was previously the CEO of the Wall Street Journal as well as the parent Dow Jones. "The Post has an essential journalistic mission and an extraordinary opportunity," Bezos said in a statement.