Time Inc. cuts nearly 300 jobs

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NEW YORK (AFX) - Time Inc. is eliminating nearly 300 jobs as it continues to revamp its huge portfolio of magazines such as Time, People and Sports Illustrated in an effort to adapt as readers and advertisers move to the Internet.

The giant magazine publisher, which is part of the media conglomerate Time Warner Inc., announced to its staff Thursday that it was eliminating 289 jobs in various departments across the company, which publishes about 150 magazines.

The cuts, which had been widely expected, would bring Time Inc.'s payroll down to about 11,000, Time Inc. spokeswoman Dawn Brides said. By division, 172 cuts would be from the editorial side of the magazines, while 117 cuts would come from the business side.

Time Inc.'s flagship magazine, Time, will close its bureaus in Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles as part of the cuts. Time magazine spokeswoman Ali Zelenko said executives had asked for up to 31 volunteers for buyouts among union-covered personnel, but she declined to give a total number of job eliminations at the magazine.

In a memo to employees, Ann Moore, the chief executive of Time Inc., said the layoffs were "part of a restructuring necessary to sustain our progress."

Moore said Time Inc. had made progress online, developing many of its Web sites into "strong and popular brand vehicles, while others are relaunching new designs with fresher content," but she also said: "progress brings change and we need to continue to evolve to meet the cost pressures and challenges presented by our rapidly-shifting industry."

The cuts are part of a broader restructuring at the storied magazine publisher as it tries to take costs out of its print magazine business and build up the online versions of its marquee magazines. Time Inc. is also selling 18 of its smaller titles, including Field & Stream, Parenting and Popular Science

Bridges said that the sale process, which was first announced last fall, was making headway and the company expected to have news "shortly," but she declined to elaborate. That division employs about 530 people, she said.

John Huey, the editor-in-chief of Time Inc., told staff in the note that the layoffs "are not about performance of the individuals involved; the layoffs are about the restructuring of our editorial staffs as we move quickly into a future of flexible, multiplatform content creation." Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be