News Corp : Tribune to cut 700 jobs at its newspaper division

(Reuters) - Tribune Co plans to cut 700 jobs, or about 6 percent of its workforce, mainly at its newspaper division, as the company readies to split apart its publishing assets from its broadcast TV stations.

Tribune publishes eight newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune and operates 23 television stations across the United States.

Peter Liguori, chief executive of Tribune, wrote in a memo to employees obtained by Reuters that the company moving to consolidate non-editorial jobs across the company.

"Creating these critical efficiencies and ensuring the long-term strength of our mastheads will, unfortunately, result in the selective reduction of our publishing staff," Liguori wrote in the memo.

Following in the footsteps of some of its peers including News Corp and Time Warner, Tribune is preparing to separate its publishing business from its faster growing TV assets.

As a long-time television executive, Liguori is placing his bets on broadcast. Tribune agreed to buy Local TV Holdings LLC for $2.7 billion, acquiring 19 television stations.

Publishing revenue fell 4 percent to $446,428 in the third quarter because of a decline in advertising.

(Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Stocks treated in this article : Time Warner Inc, Tribune Company, News Corp