Time Warner eyes sale of some magazines

Media giant Time Warner is in talks on the sale of some of its magazines to a large US publisher, the conglomerate's Fortune magazine reported Wednesday. The report said some of the titles such as People, InStyle and Real Simple, would be carved out and rolled into a company to be sold to Meredith, the Iowa-based publisher of Family Circle. But other titles in the Time Inc. family, including Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated and Fortune, would be kept by the New York-based media group. The report said details of the plan were still being discussed but that Time Warner chief executive Jeff Bewkes was moving to slim down the operations of the group, which also operates Warner Bros Studio, CNN and a host of television and digital assets. The Wall Street Journal also reported discussions on a sale were underway, citing sources who declined to be named. Time Inc. said last month it was cutting several hundred jobs to adapt to a "multi-platform" media landscape. The cuts were set to affect some six percent of its 8,000 staff positions worldwide. The company publishes 21 US magazines, including its flagship Time magazine, People, Fortune and Sports Illustrated. It 25 websites and several international magazines include global editions of Time and Fortune and publishing operations in Britain and Mexico. The publishing industry is grappling with a steep drop in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online.