• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 4, 2014

Two leading U.S. magazine publishers are wielding the axe this week, with Time Inc. cutting just under 500 employees.

Separately, Source Interlink is cutting around 100 as it also closes Modified, one of its automotive enthusiast titles.
 
The Time Inc. layoffs, announced in an internal memo from CEO Joe Ripp, have been expected ever since plans were revealed last year for Time Warner to spin off its magazine division as an independent company. Presumably, many of the cuts will come at American Express Publishing, acquired in September of last year, where many production positions are now redundant.
 
Several executives are getting the chop, including David Geithner, the executive vice president of the Style and Entertainment Group (and younger brother of the former Treasury Secretary) and Ed Kelly, CEO of American Express Publishing, which publishes Travel + Leisure and Food & Wine.
 
Last month, Time Inc. announced a big shakeup in the editorial leadership for People and Entertainment Weekly, with Jess Cagle, who previously served as editor of EW, taking over as editor of People, replacing longtime editor Larry Hackett. Cagle will also become editorial director of Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. style and entertainment group editor Mark Golin also left the company.
 
The company is also scrapping its previous structure, which grouped its magazines into news and sports, style and entertainment, and lifestyle, in favor of a single group with sections managed by executive vice presidents.
 
This is just the latest in a series of layoffs at Time Inc.

An earlier round of cuts implemented by former CEO Laura Lang in January 2013 claimed about 480 positions; before that, the company laid off 105 employees in 2005, 577 in 2006, 289 in 2007, and 600 in 2008. Altogether, Time Inc.’s workforce has shrunk from around 11,000 employees in 2005 to 7,300 after the latest round is complete, for a reduction of 3,700 or 34% in just under a decade.
 
Source Interlink layoffs will affect staff at Truck Trend and Hot Rod, according to Gawker Media’s Jalopnik .