Palm Beach Post publisher to cut 300 jobs

MIAMI, June 25 (Reuters) - The publisher of the Palm Beach Post said on Wednesday it would cut 300 jobs from its payroll of 1,350 because of a slump in ad revenues, increased competition from the Internet and an overall tough economic environment.

About 130 newsroom jobs will be cut, Palm Beach Post Publisher Doug Franklin said in a memo to staff.

The job cuts add to a slew of recent redundancies in the U.S. newspaper industry as advertisers and readers desert print papers for the Internet.

Palm Beach Newspapers Inc, which owns The Palm Beach Post, the Palm Beach Daily News, the Florida Pennysaver and La Palma, hopes to make the cuts through voluntary buyouts offered to employees who have paid into the company's pension scheme for at least five years, the Post quoted Franklin as saying.

Some of the targeted jobs involve positions already vacant through attrition and, if there are not enough buyouts, involuntary cuts will follow in August, he said.

"This is a time of great change, challenge and uncertainty in our business and the steps we are about to take are indeed difficult and painful to make. But they are necessary changes if we are to remain a strong and profitable company," Franklin said in the staff memo.

Palm Beach Newspapers Inc is owned by privately held Cox Enterprises Inc.

The company is the latest among several U.S. newspaper publishers to announce job cuts for similar reasons. McClatchy Co (MNI.N), which publishes the Miami Herald, said earlier this month it would cut about 1,400 jobs, or 10 percent of its work force.

Gannett Co Inc (GCI.N), Tribune Co TXA.N, New York Times Co (NYT.N) and Washington Post Co (WPO.N) have also announced layoffs and buyouts. (Reporting by Jane Sutton, Editing by Michael Christie and Andre Grenon)