This story has been updated from its original version.

With an ax reportedly preparing to fall on jobs at the cash-strapped Los Angeles Times and the mood in the newsroom pitch black, at least some veteran staffers appear ready to leave.

A buyout package is widely expected to be presented to employees next week and is even eagerly awaited by some who are growing tired of corporate cutbacks and losing faith in the direction of the newspaper.

“There’s an older core of people in that newsroom who believe this is finally the right time to leave and take the buyout,” said news industry analyst and author Ken Doctor. “Some of those veterans were intrigued by where Austin Beutner’s strategy as publisher was leading but after he was replaced earlier this month now feel it’s now time for them to go, too.”

Faced with a continuing decline in revenue, Times parent company Tribune Publishing is expected by staff to present a buyout package targeting longer tenured, less digital-savvy employees with the aim of running a younger, cheaper newsroom more attuned to the needs of online audiences. New digital-related hires, said Doctor, are part of the plan.

“Such an approach is fairly typical as a cost-saving measure and buyout packages don’t usually include the newer employees,” said Jacqueline Breslin, director of human capital services at human resources solution company TriNet. She spoke generally; her company is not involved in the Times matter.

“Communicating with employees is really important at a time like this to make a transition easier for everyone,” she added.

But adding to the newsroom angst is a lack of recent communication from Times editor Davan Maharaj, who has kept his office door closed all week and chosen not to address the staff about the uncertainty.

A spokesman for Chicago’s Tribune Publishing Co. declined to comment. The company’s stock price has been cut by more than half since last April and closed at $7.84 on Wednesday.