Tribune Co. Slashing Workforce by 6 Percent

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The Los Angeles Times today reported that its parent, Chicago-based Tribune Co., is pink-slipping 6 percent of its workforce, 700 jobs, over the next year to offset plunging advertising revenues among its eight-newspapers.

As part of the cost-savings, the Times article said functions, such as advertising and circulation, will be centralized and consolidated, rather than managed at each individual newspaper. The Tribune Co. has been shopping its newspaper holdings, which include the Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Baltimore Sun and flagship Chicago Tribune, as it shifts its emphasis to its broadcasting stable(see "TUOL" posts 9/27/13 & 7/10/13).

The Times article said most of the layoffs will involve non-editorial positions. The planned reductions are a response to print revenues that dropped almost $200 million over the past two years and are down $62 million over the first three-quarters of 2013, according to the Times article.