The latest round of buyouts at The Washington Post is hollowing out the paper of its most high-profile staffers as current management aims for an editorial overhaul and a financial turnaround.Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray announced its Voluntary Separation Program (VSP) in May, hoping that most veteran staffers would be enticed by the exit offer. And it's working."It kind of shows the crazy incentives at play," one Post staffer told Fox News Digital. "There is a lot of great talent left, and we've been beating everyone on the federal government story, but it's going to be another talent drain."According to a VSP document previously viewed by Fox News Digital, nine months of base pay would be given to staffers employed for 10-15 years, 12 months of base pay for 15-20-year veterans, 15 months of base pay for 20-25-year veterans and 18 months for anyone who has worked at the Post for more than 25 years. All of them would also receive 12 months of pay credit in their Separate Retirement Account (SRA).LONGTIME WASHINGTON POST FACT CHECKER TAKES BUYOUT, SAYS PAPER HAS YET TO FIND REPLACEMENT BEFORE EXIT"It's been a bloodbath on editorial," the Post staffer said.Some of the paper's biggest names in the opinion pages have taken buyouts, including Jonathan Capehart and Catherine Rampell (both notably MSNBC weekend hosts) as well as Perry Bacon Jr. and Philip Bump.The exodus from the editorial pages was also likely fueled by the Post's billionaire owner Jeff Bezos and his initiative to promote "personal liberties and free markets" while vowing not to publish pieces opposing those principles.WASHINGTON POST ABANDONS NEWSROOM INTEGRATION FOR ITS SOCIAL MEDIA-FOCUSED WP VENTURES DIVISIONWashington Post columnist Karen Attiah appeared to swipe the lack of diversity on the paper's editorial team as a result of the buyouts, posting on X "So.. officially, I'm the last Black staff columnist left in the Washington Post's opinion section."The buyouts, however, are having a huge impact throughout the "Democracy Dies in Darkness" paper. Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post's longtime fact checker, announced his exit Monday and its Supreme Court reporter Ann Marimow has joined The New York Times. Even most of the Post's obituary team have reportedly taken buyouts.The Post scrapped its so-called "third newsroom," dubbed WP Ventures, that aimed to capture social media users. Veteran Post editor Krissah Thompson, who was tapped to lead the now-defunct division after its launch last year, also took a buyout and the paper's viral TikTok personality Dave Jorgenson also left the company. Earlier this month, Washington Post CEO Will Lewis sent a memo to staff issuing an ultimatum for those contemplating whether to adapt to the paper's new direction."The moment demands that we continue to rethink all aspects of our organization and business to maximize our impact," Lewis wrote in the memo obtained by Fox News Digital. "If we want to reconnect with our audience and continue to defend democracy, more changes at The Post will be necessary. And to succeed, we need to be united as a team with a strong belief and passion in where we areheading.""I understand and respect, however, that our chosen path is not for everyone," Lewis continued. "Thats exactly why we introduced the voluntary separationprogram. As we continue in this new direction, I want to ask those who do not feel aligned with thecompanysplan to reflect on that. The VSP is designed to support you in making this decision, give you the ability to weigh your options thoughtfully and with less concern about financial consequences. And if you think that its time to move on to a new chapter, the VSP helps you take that next step with more security."WASHINGTON POST CEO URGES STAFF WHO DON'T FEEL ALIGNED WITH PAPER'S NEW DIRECTION TO TAKE BUYOUTThe Post staffer seemed skeptical the jarring editorial pivot would bear the fruit that the bosses were hoping for."So far they don't have much to show for their efforts," the staffer said. "Subscribers fled. Traffic is falling. The third newsroom is dead. Scores of brand-name reporters and editors have left. If there are bright spots, I haven't seen them yet."Others who left the Post had some choice parting words. Longtime columnist Joe Davidson claimed he had a piece spiked because was it was "deemed too opinionated under an unwritten and inconsistently enforced policy" and called out Bezos' "unseemly and well-document[ed] coziness" with President Donald Trump. Editorial board member Eduardo Porter said he was a "bad fit for this ideological turn" and that Bezos and his team "are taking the paper down a path I cannot follow," risking turning The Post "into something more akin to a church, with tight constraints on thought."There have been multiple waves of exits from the Post over the past year, beginning last October when Bezos blocked the paper's endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala Harris just days before the election. Bezos further enraged staff with his editorial directive in February that resulted in the immediate resignation of Post opinion editor David Shipley. Both instances also sparked mass cancellations of reader subscriptions.The Post has since hired Adam O'Neal, formerly of The Economist and The Wall Street Journal, to replace Shipley as opinion editor. In his announcement, O'Neal echoed Bezos' mission of being "stalwart advocates of free markets and personal liberties," adding the opinion pages will be "unapologetically patriotic" and will not be lecturing its readers.Politico has a running list of over 100 Post employees who have left the paper since last fall, many of them joining rival papers like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal as well as outlets like The Atlantic and CNN.A spokesperson for The Washington Post declined to comment.