Time Inc. shakes up and consolidates, cutting 500 jobs, as it prepares to spin off magazine division

Time Inc., preparing to spin off its magazine division by this summer, is reported to be cutting about 500 jobs out of its complement of 7,800. A memo to staff Tuesday from CEO Joe Ripp said that three publishing groups set up only 6 years ago -- News and Sports, Style and Entertainment and Lifestyle -- are being consolidated into one, to be co-managed by two executives, Evelyn Webster and Todd Larsen.

The layoffs, reported by the New York Post, are largely the result of integrating the various titles acquired from American Express Publishing, including Travel + Leisure and Food & Wine. It has already been reported that Executive Travel was being closed.

Among the casualties of the shakeup was a 21-year veteran of the company, David Geithner, who oversaw People, InStyle and Entertainment Weekly (he is the brother of the former U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner) and Ed Kelly, who was CEO of American Express Publishing.