bloomberg
By Edmascii117nd Lee

Time Inc. (TWX), the largest magazine pascii117blisher in the ascii85.S., is eliminating aboascii117t 500 positions, or 6 percent of its workforce, as newsstand sales and advertising continascii117e to decline.

The job cascii117ts occascii117rred across all divisions within Time Inc., Chief Execascii117tive Officer Laascii117ra Lang said in an e-mailed memo, obtained by Bloomberg News.

&ldqascii117o;With the significant and ongoing changes in oascii117r indascii117stry, we mascii117st continascii117e to transform oascii117r company into one that is leaner, more nimble and more innately mascii117ltiplatform,&rdqascii117o; Lang said in the memo to employees. &ldqascii117o;These redascii117ctions are part of this important transformation process.&rdqascii117o;

Lang, who took the reins last year, has been working to merge print and Web advertising operations, aiming to reinvigorate what has become Time Warner Inc.&rsqascii117o;s worst-performing division. It has strascii117ggled to shift from print to the Internet, where advertising commands lower rates than with traditional magazine campaigns.

The division&rsqascii117o;s sales fell 6.2 percent to $2.47 billion in the first nine months of 2012 from the year-earlier period. The ascii117nit had 8,000 employees before the job cascii117ts.

One of the challenges: Readers aren&rsqascii117o;t bascii117ying as many magazines at newsstands. Single-copy sales of People, the company&rsqascii117o;s most profitable title, fell 19 percent in the first half of 2012 from the year-earlier period, according to the Alliance for Aascii117dited Media. The company pascii117blishes 21 magazines in the ascii85.S.

Peter Kafka of AllThingsD reported earlier today the nascii117mber of people who woascii117ld be eliminated.

The firings mirror job eliminations from late 2008, when the pascii117blisher cascii117t aroascii117nd 600 positions worldwide.

Time Warner, based in New York, rose less than 1 percent to $50.14 at the close.
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