India, Feb. 5 -- The Washington Post has triggered a fierce international debate after announcing layoffs affecting nearly one-third of its workforce, including more than 300 newsroom employees.

The scale of the cuts has placed renewed scrutiny on the newspaper's owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose personal fortune stands at $246.3 billion, according to Forbes.

The layoffs, confirmed on Wednesday, affected almost every major newsroom division.

International and local reporting teams, the Sports desk, and the Books section faced deep reductions, while the paper's daily "Post Reports" podcast was shut down.

Staff were instructed to stay home as termination notices were sent, many delivered by email.

Washington Post executives descr...