Time Inc. Lays Off More Than 250

Employees in those bureaus said they were “shell-shocked,” as the news was delivered by speakerphone from New York by Larry Hackett, People’s managing editor.

The news “was not sugar-coated,” one employee said. A total of about 15 people work in the three bureaus; the cuts take effect Feb. 1.

Other layoffs were being announced this morning at each of Time Inc.’s magazines, and were likely to amount to about 2 percent of the company’s worldwide staff of 11,000.

Time, the flagship magazine, was poised to lose about 70 people, and Sports Illustrated was expecting several losses as well.

The layoffs and cost-cutting comes as Time Inc., the nation’s biggest publisher, seeks to expand its branded properties on the Web, where the company sees its future.