Time Inc. Plans New Round of Staff Cuts, $63-Million Charge

NEW YORK — Time Inc., moving further in its 15-month campaign to cut overhead, said Thursday that it will take a $63-million pretax charge against profit in the fourth quarter of 1986 to cover the costs of a new round of staff reductions.

The publishing and cable concern wouldn’t disclose how many jobs it expects to cut in this latest round, which began in the fourth quarter of 1986 and will continue into the first quarter of 1987. Of the $63 million, $32 million will cover the cost of magazine staff reductions, $24 million will be set aside for cuts in Time’s corporate organization and the remainder will be used for “smaller reductions in other parts of the company,” the company said.

Time said most but not all of the charge for the quarter ended Dec. 31 would be spent on severance compensation for discharged employees. One analyst, Ed Atorino of Smith Barney, Harris Upham in New York, estimated that the staff reduction could total 1,000 employees--5.5% of the Time work force--if the entire amount were spent on such compensation.

Analysts said the charge was slightly larger than expected, but not unexpected for a company that declared its intention to make continuing cuts in staff and expenses.

Long perceived as a lavish spender, Time announced a cost-cutting drive in October, 1985. Three months later the company said it would take a $13-million charge to cover the costs of cutting 136 persons from its staff.

The charge comes as Time confronts slow growth in its big magazine division, and a combination of rising costs and slow growth in its cable and pay television units. Even before the charge, analysts were predicting that the year’s financial results would be only about even with those of last year, when Time Inc. earned $200 million, or $3.15 a share, on revenues of $3.4 billion.

“It’s a tough time for Time Inc.,” said Smith Barney’s Atorino.

Time officials bridle at the suggestion that the company still faces a takeover threat, but not all on Wall Street are convinced. An analyst who asked to remain unidentified said Wall Street’s perception that Time may face such a threat “seems to have been the single force behind the stock’s strength.”

The analyst said a number of the recent actions seem also to be motivated, in part, by a desire to fend off such advances. These include the planned $520-million acquisition of textbook publisher Scott, Foresman, which added to company debt; the repurchase of stock; the spinoff of 20% of the company’s ATC cable subsidiary, and its cost-cutting plan, the analyst said.

Separately, Time said it has named Reginald Brack Jr., the new chief executive of its magazine group, and Michael J. Fuchs, chairman and chief executive of its Home Box Office Inc. subsidiary, as executive vice presidents of Time.