Staff at Arc XP – the Washington Post’s publishing tech subsidiary and an industry darling – are being cut as the business suffers from the problems of its Jeff Bezos-owned parent.

Axios media correspondent Sara Fischer says 54 people are being laid off as part of an effort to build a more sustainable business. “Despite growing its customer base consistently over the past decade, Arc XP is still losing money,” she said.

The jobs affected are in functions including sales, engineering, marketing, technology and product, and amount to about 18 per cent of the total staff.

Arc XP president Matt Monahan told staff on Monday: “This decision will help us align to a plan for the future that is both ambitious and achievable,” adding that a sharpened product vision would help them meet current challenges.

WaPo had hoped Arc, launched in 2015, would drive a new revenue stream, and had tried to expand its market beyond media companies. Efforts to sell it as a standalone business have not eventuated. Axios says most of Arc’s more than 2,500 customers are publishers, many of them local and national news publishers outside the US.

Will Lewis, chief executive of parent the Washington Post and an English knight, reported a US$77 million (A$112 million) loss in May. Lewis joined WaPo in January this year; he was previously chief executive of News Corp’s Dow Jones and publisher of the Wall Street Journal, having been involved in News UK’s response to the phone hacking crisis, and leaving following the closure of the News of the World.

WaPo’s revenue had declined by 12 per cent in the period since 2021.