In the second week of this year, officials at Time Inc. announced that the company would be laying off 289 employees, including four staff photographers. That number represents nearly 3 percent of the company's total workforce.
Although the publisher did not disclose the personnel choices at individual magazines, nearly one-third of the lost jobs are reported to be among administrative and business staff, and the rest will encompass editorial and photographic employees at magazines across the company's library. Many of the company's titles have contracts with the Newspaper Guild, which requires that guild members facing pink slips be offered buyout packages. The remainder of the employees were subject to mandatory layoffs.
Bureau offices are being closed at Time in Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta, and at People in Miami, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas. Although Time and People are said to be suffering the deepest cuts, a memo directed to Sports Illustrated staff from Terry McDonnell, editor of the Sports Illustrated Group, outlined approximately 30 layoffs that included three photographers and a photo editor.
Last September, the company announced that it was planning to sell 18 of its print titles, including Popular Science, Yachting, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Warren Miller Entertainment and Parenting. From December 2005, when Time announced a reorganization, to December 2006, the company shed nearly 600 employees. The decision to cull titles and staff positions will allow the company to focus on efforts to garner readers in digital and interactive, as well as print, formats, said Ann Moore, chairman and CEO at Time Inc., in a statement.