Tuesday is D-day at Time Inc.
Around mid-morning, staffers are expected to start hearing how deep the cuts will be as Time Inc. CEO Joe Ripp unveils what is likely the last big downsizing before Time Warner spins off the publishing group as a separate company later this year.
“It’s very nerve racking,” said one source inside the company that publishes People, Time, Sports Illustrated and In Style.
The recently acquired American Express Publishing and the London-based IPC subsidiary, are expected to be particularly hard hit.
American Express Publishing, with about 400 people, was taken over by Time Inc. in Oct. The company headed by CEO Ed Kelly has been highly profitable, but many of its production and business operations are redundant now that it is part of Time Inc. and are expected to be on the chopping block.
AmEx produces Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine, and Departures. Staffers at Executive Travel, a magazine mailed free to AmEx platinum card holders, are expected to be told today that the magazine will be closed down.
Time Inc. has about 7,800 people. The downsizing today is expected to be roughly equivalent to the one that former CEO Laura Lang unleashed a year ago, when about 500 people — roughly 6 percent of the workforce — were axed.
Time Warner is still officially holding fast to its goal to get the initial public offering launched in the second quarter of 2014.