Report: Time to Axe 700 Jobs Next Month, Save $100M

Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) Time Inc. will reportedly hand out pink slips to as many as 700 employees across its suite of magazines and web sites early next month in a move that could save the publisher up to $100 million annually.

The layoffs, which were expected to begin next week, have been postponed another few weeks to better align with Time Warner’s earnings release, according to a report by the New York Post.

Meanwhile, Time CEO Laura Lang, who last month appointed Martha Nelson to serve as editor in chief – an exclusive position only held by seven people in 90 years – nixed pay raises this year for 8,000 staffers, the Post said.

The pay policy was reportedly announced to employees this week in an internal memo.

"While we are evolving, the publishing business in the short term remains challenged,” Lang said, according to the report. “As we position ourselves for growth in the future we must continue to aggressively manage costs.”

Attempts to reach Time Inc. for comment were not immediately returned.

Print media has been struggling to stay afloat as it loses market share and advertising spend to Internet publications that don’t have circulation and printing costs.

In an effort to soften the pay-raise blow and calm concerns regarding the impending layoffs, Lang, the former Digitas CEO who took Time’s reins last January, reportedly touted the publisher’s leadership in both revenue and ad pages, which she said continues to outperform the industry as a whole.