Newark's Star-Ledger could be sold

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey, is on "life support," must cut 200 jobs through buyouts and may be sold if it cannot reduce expenses, the newspaper's publisher told employees on Thursday, according to a report on its website.

The newspaper offered the buyouts to all non-union workers, the website reported. Editorial employees at The Star-Ledger are not union members, a current employee who is not authorized to speak on behalf of the newspaper told Reuters.

The cuts would amount to about a quarter of the newspaper's full-time staff.

The website report said the newspaper was trying to reach agreements with unions representing drivers and mailers to help reduce costs.

A sale would happen if the paper cannot reach union agreements or hit its buyout target by October 1, according to the website.

Publisher George Arwady told employees in a newsroom meeting that the newspaper is on life support and urged them to consider the offer for the good of fellow employees, according to the website, www.nj.com.

Arwady and Star-Ledger Editor Jim Willse were not available for comment.

The Star-Ledger had an average weekday circulation of 345,130 for the six months ended March 31, 2008, and Sunday circulation of 500,382, according to data from the U.S. Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Its weekday circulation made it the 15th largest in the United States as of the end of March 2008, up from 16th in September 2007.

USA Today is the country's largest newspaper with a daily circulation of 2.2 million. The Wall Street Journal has about 2 million, followed by The New York Times with 1.1 million and the Los Angeles Times with more than 773,000.

The Star-Ledger is owned by the Newhouse family's Advance Publications, which also owns The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon, The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, and the CondeNast magazine empire.

The privately held company does not share financial data.

(Reporting by Robert MacMillan; Editing by Toni Reinhold)