The restructuring will make the editorial and business management of the company's magazines more centralised, curtailing a tradition for each title's editor and publisher enjoying a large degree of independence.
Time Inc, which owns IPC Media in the UK, is creating three divisions to house similar magazines but is not planning to close any titles.
News will include Time, Fortune, Money and Sports Illustrated. Entertainment will include People, InStyle and Entertainment Weekly. Lifestyle will house Real Simple, Cottage Living, Coastal Living and Southern Living.
Ann Moore, the chief executive and chairman of Time Inc, declined to comment, but in an internal memo obtained by Reuters she said the company faced a challenge "unlike any we have seen before".
"Industry conditions have been challenging due to the financial crisis, which has produced sharp decreases in advertising spending. This is expected to continue through most of 2009," she wrote.
Company executives are reported to have said the restructure is intended to allow it to focus its big brands on platforms other than print.
The restructure is expected to lead to more co-operation between magazines, such as the recent edition of Time that featured a major story on the financial crisis contributed by Fortune writers.
Time Inc's ad revenue was down 9% in the second quarter and an update is due on November 5 when parent company Time Warner reports its results.
In other Time Warner news its TV arm Turner Broadcasting is to remove Nuts TV from Freeview in the UK and replace it with CNN International.
There was further gloom for US media jobs yesterday with news that USA Today and local newspaper publisher Gannett plans to cut another 10% from its workforce by early December on top of a 10% reduction announced in August.
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