• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, June 14, 2017

The continuing financial challenges facing publishers of all stripes claimed more casualties this week.

Time Inc., the nation’s largest magazine publisher, announced a new round of layoffs and buyouts, affecting 300 positions or around 4% of the company’s total headcount. Time Inc. CEO Rich Battista announced the cuts in an internal memo to staff late Tuesday.

In the memo, Battista framed the cost-cutting measures as part of the company’s larger ongoing strategic reorganization, as it struggles to make the transition from a legacy print publisher to a digital-first multimedia network, albeit with a substantial print component:.

“Transformations do take time and patience, but I am encouraged by the demonstrable progress we are making as we implement our strategy in key growth areas, such as video, native advertising and brand extensions, and as we see positive signs of stabilizing our print business, which remains an important part of our company,” he noted.

The list of employees affected by the layoffs includes senior Fortune writer Matthew Ingram, who wrote about the job cuts on Twitter: “I know this first hand, because I am one of them. Just have to pack up my virtual desk and then it's adios, Time Inc.!”

Time Inc. previously laid off 100 people in August 2016, or about 1.5% of its total workforce at the time. Before that, another round of layoffs in February 2014 trimmed 500 positions as it prepared to spin off from Time Warner as an independent company.

Taking a longer view, Time Inc.’s shrinking headcount has been a bellwether for the travails of legacy print publishers as ad dollars shifted to digital media over the last decade. At the end of 2005, the company employed around 11,000 people around the world; after the latest round of cuts, that number will have been reduced to around 7,150, for a 35% reduction over 11 years.

Total revenues for the publisher fell 7.8% from $690 million in the first quarter of 2016 to $636 million in the first quarter of 2017, due mostly to the decline in print ads, down 21% to $212 million, and circulation revenues, down 14% to $205 million.

Digital ads have been a bright spot on the balance books, increasing 32% in the first quarter to $119 million — thanks in part to last year’s acquisition of ad tech firm Viant.

But the gain of $29 million here was more than offset by the $91 million drop in print ads and circ.