Time Warner making corporate job cuts?

AdAge has a report out today noting that Time Warner CEO, Jeffrey L. Bewkes, plans to lay off 75 or more people tomorrow. But this report says the cuts are coming primarily from the company's corporate offices. That would be much closer to home for the top brass there, so 75 of the 600 to 700 noted in the article would be a substantial signal that the company is making sacrifices top to bottom in a quest for shareholder rewards.

If this is the case, it would be coincidental with earnings, also scheduled for tomorrow morning. Bewkes still has time on his side to make his mark. Now that Carl Icahn isn't in the middle of the hornet's nest, the current shareholder base has become patient. A bear market trading pattern forces people to stop badgering CEOs so much, because relative performance gets harder and harder to prove.

This is Bewkes' first earnings report as head honcho there, but Dick Parsons was still in charge for most of this last quarter. Bewkes may go over a formal plan and he might not. Most likely the media conglomerate will outline a formal date that the actual plan will be announced.

Obviously, most of BloggingStocks' attention is probably going to pertain to Bewkes' forward plans for AOL. Many of the mega-merger watchers from last week think this puts added pressure on AOL, although that might not really be the case. Since that is opinion, I will hold off on going into details on that.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) shares closed down 2.7% today at $15.40. The 52-week trading range is $14.64 to $21.97. Stay tuned for earnings tomorrow.