Newsweek plans staff cuts in makeover: report

A supporter of Republican presidential candidate former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee holds a signed copy of Newsweek magazine during a Chowderfest Meet & Greet at Windham Center School in Windham, New Hampshire January 6, 2008.

(Reuters) - Newsweek magazine is planning staff cuts as part of a major editorial makeover likely to result in a slimmer publication, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people close to the magazine.

The cuts are expected to be outlined in two companywide meetings on Thursday, and will come from an extension of voluntary redundancies offered in the spring, when Newsweek shed 111 jobs, the paper said.

It is not clear how many jobs will go but it is not expected to be nearly as many this time around, people with knowledge of the plan told the paper.

The magazine is also mulling cutting the number of weekly copies it promises advertisers from 500,000 to 1 million copies from its current guarantee of 2.6 million, people familiar with the situation told the paper.

Newsweek is published by Washington Post Co, which also publishes one of the largest daily newspapers in the United States and owns online magazine Slate.com.

The magazine could not be immediately reached for comment.

(Reporting by Pratish Narayanan in Bangalore; Editing by Mike Nesbit)