NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Times will offer buyouts to up to 150 employees to offset declining circulation and advertising in the latest effort by parent company Tribune Co. (TRB.N: Quote, Profile , Research) to cut jobs ahead of its plan to go private in an $8.2 billion deal.
The buyouts would equal 3 percent to 5 percent of workers at the Times, Tribune's largest newspaper, publisher David Hiller wrote in a note to the staff.
"We also have to look at our staffing levels again, as painful as it is, and as many times as we have done it before," Hiller wrote. "The fact is we have to take actions to keep staffing in line with the revenue picture, which currently is falling in the core print business.
Other reduction plans include eliminating some positions, a voluntary four-day week for 80 percent of pay and cutting other currently open jobs, Hiller wrote.
Up to 70 jobs could be cut from the Times' news operations, which would bring the newsroom staff to roughly 850, the Times reported on its Web site. The news operation employed about 1,200 when Tribune bought the paper in 2000.
Tribune, home to the Times and the Chicago Tribune, is going private in a deal led by Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell against the backdrop of declining profits and a shift of readers and advertisers to the Internet.
Last week, Tribune reported a first-quarter loss and a 6 percent drop in advertising revenue. Classified ad sales fell 14 percent. U.S. newspapers have been particularly hard hit by the shift of classified advertising to the Internet.
"We still make lots of money. But a negative cloud hangs over our projected future revenues," said Times editor James O'Shea in a separate memo. "Advertisers simply doubt we can continue to attract readers as we have in the past."
The Times's former editor, Dean Baquet, and former publisher Jeffrey Johnson, resigned from the paper last year after they resisted Tribune's call to cut more jobs.
"We will redeploy our resources to areas where we can best serve the changing needs of our customers and generate growth, such as we are doing in our interactive group," Tribune said in a statement.
The Chicago Tribune and The Sun in Baltimore have reported that they expect to announce job cuts soon. The Tribune reported that the newspaper aims to cut 100 jobs and is expected to offer a buyout plan on Monday.
Tribune shares closed up 24 cents at $32.49 on the New York Stock Exchange.
