NEW YORK, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Time Inc., the top U.S. magazine publisher, will cut 289 jobs from its estimated 11,300 workforce to slash costs as it invests more heavily in Internet properties, the company said on Thursday.
The Time Warner Inc. (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) division, which owns properties including Time and People magazines, will cut 117 business jobs and 172 editorial jobs, a Time Inc. spokeswoman said.
"As you all know, the past year has been a time of transition at Time Inc.," Ann Moore, chairman and chief executive of Time Inc., said in a memo to employees on Thursday.
Moore added, "While we continue to invest in our core magazines, we are also focused on transforming our workforce and broadening our digital capabilities in order to become a truly multi-platform publisher."
The job cuts follow months of tepid earnings growth at Time Inc., whose namesake was the weekly news magazine founded by Henry Luce in 1923.
In recent years, marketers have shifted more advertising dollars to Web sites at the expense of traditional media outlets like print and television.
Time magazine's selection for its iconic "Person of the Year" issue symbolized the trend.
The magazine's editors named "You" as the most influential figure in 2006, in part boosted by the popularity of online video sharing service YouTube, where consumers armed with cheap digital video recorders upload their own videos.
New technology has undercut print publishing -- both magazines and newspapers -- where circulation and advertising sales declines in recent years have encouraged some owners to sell off its operations.
Tribune Co. (TRB.N: Quote, Profile, Research), publisher of the Los Angeles Times, has said it would consider a sale. Its biggest shareholder and a group led by two Los Angeles billionaires on Wednesday submitted rival bids that offer only a small premium over Tribune's market valuation.
Some investors have pushed Time Warner's management to consider a sale of its publishing operations, but executives have said it had no plans to do so.
The company has thrown its support behind Internet businesses linked to its print properties. Writers for Time Inc.'s Fortune, Money and Business 2.0 magazine writers regularly contribute to CNN Money.com, Time Warner's financial news and information site.
"These layoffs are part of the necessary restructuring of our business as we continue to transform into a multi-platform publisher, and are focused on increasing efficiencies and allowing for closer collaboration between our digital and print businesses," the spokeswoman said in an e-mailed statement.
Among the job cuts on its editorial side, 86 employees agreed to voluntary buyouts and 86 were laid off.
Time Warner shares rose 18 cents to $22.99, a 12-month high, on the New York Stock Exchange.
