Time Inc. cuts 6% of staff

Magazine publisher Time Inc. revealed plans on Wednesday to cut 6% of its staff of 8,000, or roughly 480 people.

In a memo to employees, CEO Laura Lang said the cuts would hit "all areas" of the company, including both domestic and international staff.

"With the significant and ongoing changes in our industry, we must continue to transform our company into one that is leaner, more nimble and more innately multi-platform," Lang said.

A spokeswoman for Time Inc. said the company was not planning on taking any of its magazines out of print. She declined to comment on the cost savings expected to be achieved through the cuts.

Time Inc. is a division of Time Warner (TWX), the parent company of CNNMoney. Time Inc.'s stable includes 95 titles worldwide, including Time, Sports Illustrated, People, Entertainment Weekly and several dozen websites.

The company has been through several shakeups at the top in the last few years. In February 2011, after less than six months on the job, CEO Jack Griffin was forced out, replaced in January of last year by Lang, former CEO of the ad firm Digitas.

Lang informed employees earlier this month that the company's traditional 3% merit bonuses would be eliminated for 2013.

The job cuts underline the challenging time for print journalism, particularly for magazines.

Newsweek, Time's historic rival, ceased publication of its print edition at the end of last year. Newsweek editor-in-chief Tina Brown said the growing use of tablet computers by readers, combined with continued weakness in print advertising, drove the decision, which was reportedly accompanied by layoffs.

Magazine publisher Condé Nast also reportedly began a round of job cuts late last year.

The Pew Research Center said in September that just 18% of Americans surveyed reported having read a magazine in print the previous day, down from 26% in 2000. Some 39% reported reading the news online.

For the third quarter of 2012, Time Inc. reported sales of $838 million, down 6% from a year earlier. The company said a 6% decline in subscription revenue and a 5% decline in ad revenue had contributed to this drop.

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