Time Inc. to Cut $100 Million; Extensive Layoffs Are Expected (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

The New York Times ^ | October 29, 2009 | Stephanie Clifford

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Signaling that worse times are ahead for magazines, Time Inc. is expected to announce next week that it will cut $100 million from costs, including another big round of layoffs.

The timing is coordinated with parent company Time Warner’s third-quarter earnings announcement, sources said, scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Time Inc., the publisher of titles like Time, Fortune, and People, has already cut costs dramatically: a year ago, it announced it was dismissing 6 percent of its work force, or about 600 people.

That was apparently not enough to make up for revenue declines. The $100 million in costs is expected to come largely from layoffs, said sources, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

Michael Nathanson, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said he expected that third-quarter revenue at Time Inc. would fall about 19 percent, to $900 million.

“For the year, we’re at about $3.7 billion, and this company had done almost $5 billion as late as 2007,” Mr. Nathanson said.

Since 2004, Time Inc. has cut about $800 million in costs, Mr. Nathanson said.

Overall, Mr. Nathanson said, he expects Time Warner to post earnings of $0.54 cents a share, well up from the $0.30 a share it posted in the third quarter of 2008.

Time Inc. has already been slashing costs over the last several years. Since 2007 it has shut down titles including Business 2.0, Cottage Living, Southern Accents and Life, which it had revived as a newspaper supplement. Last week, Fortune announced that it would no longer be biweekly, and would drop its frequency from 25 to 18 issues a year. A stricter expense-account policy has been in place for some time, and some magazines have decreased the weight of the paper they use.

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TIME Stands Still

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TIME Stands Still

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ping

[crescen7]

Gee, these guys are way behind the curve. Didn’t they here - the recession ended today ! Happy Days are Here Again !

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http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/10/jon_meacham_as_far_as_digital.html
Jon Meacham: As Far As Digital Delivery of Print Goes, We’re ‘Kind of Where the Sony Cassette Walkman Was’

http://weblogs.jomc.unc.edu/talkingbiznews/?p=11548
ACBJ CEO talks about the business of business news

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iCcKlUw-MuMb3ZaxTojKgdBXBYjAD9BKTU3O0
Editors see financial gains from cutting frequency

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/10/globe_publisher_2.html
Globe publisher Ainsley to retire; Mayer promoted

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45&aid=172607
Wall Street Journal closes its Boston bureau

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20091029_Papers_cite_20_6__drop_in_revenue__but_stay_in_black.html
Papers cite 20.6% drop in revenue, but stay in black

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/28/AR2009102804896.html
The vestigial tale

http://www.slate.com/id/2233849/
Paper HangersNewspapers aren’t doing as badly as you think.

[ConservativeMind]

I’m glad Time is slashing liberals out of the budget, but these dang DNC outlets are still left surviving.

I want to see them go under. Fast.

[tired&retired]

I guess Glenn Becks picture was an appropriate cover for them... Who gets to laugh last?????? LOL

[Parley Baer]

Great news.

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[rj45mis]

hehehe! i order subscriptions for my office and I dropped Time at the first opportunity.

[doc1019]

Cleaning house before the government bail out?

[Cicero]

Well, I think they had Obama on the cover about 18 times this year. How’d that work for them? Maybe they should have tried Madonna or Princess Di.

Actually, Rolling Stone won the Obama Cover of the Year Award from the Magazine Editors Group, so I guess all those Time covers just didn’t work very well:

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2009/10/15/magazine-editors-group-creates-award-category-obama-magazine-covers

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TIME

"TIME, oh, TIME
Where did you go
TIME, oh, good, good TIME
Where did you go"

[ken5050]

Just wait..Time is considering adopting the same strategy as SI..with a swimsuit edition..they can’t wait to put Zero and Michelle on the cover....

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http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/366773-Meredith_Broadcast_Revenue_Down_13_.php
Meredith Broadcast Revenue Down 13%

http://www.businessinsider.com/comcast-nbc-deal-hits-a-few-snags-2009-10
Comcast-NBC Deal Hits A Few Snags

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/oct/29/sales-fall-newspaper-readership
As sales fall, newspapers must find a way to measure multimedia readership

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/business/global/29copy.html?_r=1
Germany Looks at Ways to Protect Online Journalism

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/29/bbc-cut-100-managers
BBC to cut more than 100 managers to make £20m executive savings

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/media_events/good_riddance_to_the_mainstream_media_not_quite_yet_141554.asp
Good Riddance To The Mainstream Media? Not Quite Yet

[TMA62]

Perhaps TIME’s “Man of the Year for 2009” will be one of its own laid off writers.

[Signalman]

Gee, that headline brightened up my day.

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Father TIME

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

I think the best song is the one Vanilla Fudge did with endless stoned “ Time...Time...Time...” ha.

[EGPWS]

Signaling that worse times are ahead for magazines, Time Inc. is expected to announce next week that it will cut $100 million from costs, including another big round of layoffs.

Time for another stimulus package to keep the left biased press running.

Fire up some more printing presses....Oh, I did a pun!