Business

TIME INC. SHUTTERS SOUTHERN ACCENTS MAGAZINE

Time Inc. is closing 32-year old Southern Accents, a luxury southern lifestyle title.

About 20 people are out of a job, including Publisher Steve Cumming. The fate of Editor-in-Chief Karen Carroll is unknown, though insiders said the company is trying to find her a role within Time Inc.

For months, rumors have swirled that the Birmingham, Ala.-based title, which is controlled by Time Inc.’s Southern Progress subsidiary, might be shut down. The magazine publishes six times a year and has a circulation of around 400,000.

Sylvia Auton, the Time Inc. executive vice president who oversees Southern Progress, flew to Birmingham today to break the news to the staff at a meeting scheduled for noon.

“In this difficult economy, we need to focus our energy, resources and investment on our biggest and most profitable brands, so we had to make this difficult decision,” she said.

The company told employees that the Web version of the magazine will live on.

The magazine was founded in 1977 and purchased in 1985 from the W.R.C. Smith Publishing Co.