Time Inc to slash hundreds of jobs

Time Inc. said Wednesday it was cutting several hundred jobs as the US publishing giant streamlines to adapt to a "multi-platform" media landscape. Laura Lang, chief executive at the media unit of Time Warner, said the group was "beginning the painful process" of cutting "approximately six percent" of its 8,000 staff positions worldwide. "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," she said in a memo to staff. "To make this change, we need to operate as smartly and efficiently as possible to create room for critical investments and new initiatives. These reductions are part of this important transformation process." The company publishes 21 US magazines including its flagship Time magazine, People, Fortune and Sports Illustrated. It 25 websites and several international magazines including global editions of Time and Fortune and publishing operations in Britain and Mexico. Lang said the job cuts would "come from all areas of Time Inc. across our locations -- both domestic and international" but offered no further details. The move comes just months after Time magazine's longtime rival Newsweek said it would end its print edition and go all-digital as part of its partnership with the Daily Beast website. The publishing industry has been grappling with a steep drop in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online.