TIMES—Closure of L.A. Times Weekly Papers Could Be Near, According to Sources

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The Los Angeles Times appeared poised to announce the closure of its three weekly newspapers late last week, according to various sources.

The move, which could lead to layoffs for more than 15 employees, would be the latest in a series of cost-cutting measures the company has undertaken in recent months.

Employees of the San Gabriel Valley Weekly, South Bay Weekly and Westside Weekly received a memo last Thursday afternoon asking them to attend a meeting at the Times building downtown on Friday, during which it was believed that the shutdown of the papers would be announced.

Times officials did not return several calls for comment on Thursday.

“If you look at the California section over the last few weeks, you can certainly see how the advertising has moved,” said one source, referring to the fact that ads from the weeklies have been transferred to the Times in recent weeks.

Asked about the potential closure of the weeklies earlier in the week, Times spokeswoman Martha Goldstein said: “When we have something to announce we’ll let our employees know first.” She declined to comment further.

Nearly 40 Times employees accepted early retirement packages in August as part of the paper’s effort to comply with parent Tribune Co.’s goal of reducing the 21,000-strong workforce by 6 percent. A handful of cuts also were made in the Times community news division earlier this year.

Shortly after the Times was purchased by Tribune last year, the publication shut down its Our Times section, which resulted in layoffs for more than 100 employees.

Tribune is one of many media companies that have seen revenues fall this year as a result of declining ad sales.

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