Business

Time cuts 16 on its SI team

Sixteen people will get their walking papers from Sports Illustrated and related Time Inc. titles as part of a restructuring and belt-tightening.

The layoffs from the Time Inc. Sports Group, which includes SI and Golf Magazine, include 13 voluntary buyouts and three involuntary layoffs.

The 16 make up 6.7 percent of the 210-person editorial staff.

Sports Group editor Terry McDonell was expected to tell staffers today. A spokesman for the Group, which also includes SI for Kids and SI.com, declined comment.

Insiders said that the plan is to cut $3 million in annual editorial costs.

SI was down 7.9 percent in ad pages, to 729, through the July 16 issue, according to Media Industry Newsletter.

Some Time Inc. staffers are worried that the Sports Group cuts might serve as a blueprint for Time Inc. CEO Laura Lang to make other cuts around the nation’s No. 1 magazine publisher later this year.

Lang, in her first meeting with all the top editors a week ago, emphasized that she is trying to find new revenue streams and did not mention cost savings or job cutbacks.