CHICAGO, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. media giant Tribune Co. said it will cut nearly 700 jobs as it restructures its publishing business to reflect the shift to digital content delivery.
The plan was revealed to employees in a memo, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday. The Tribune is one of eight daily newspapers the company publishes, including the Los Angeles Times and The Baltimore Sun.
The company -- which has already cut about 1,150 jobs since 2011 -- said it would streamline its operation, merging various divisions, such as marketing, digital media and advertising into one unit.
The publishing staff represents about 6 percent of the company's workforce, the Tribune said.
"Unfortunately, organizing around functional lines rather than maintain what we're doing locally, there is going to be some staff reductions," said Peter Liguori, president and chief executive officer of the company.
"We are not going to be reducing any of our front-line reporters," he said. "Over time there will be some small reductions on the editorial side, but we want to maintain our best-in-class local journalism.
The company's publishing division remains profitable, even though advertising is in a sharp decline, the Tribune said.
Revenues were down 8 percent ($62 million) in January through September, compared to the same period of 2012. In the same January-to-September period, the publishing division made a profit of $151 million, the newspaper said.
