CHICAGO (AP) – Tribune Co. employees were notified Wednesday that hundreds of jobs will be cut at the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other publications – the first cutbacks since billionaire Sam Zell took the media company private last year.

In separate memos, Tribune Publisher Scott Smith said 100 jobs would be cut and his counterpart at the Times, David Hiller, said 100-150 jobs would be eliminated.

Meanwhile, both newspapers reported a total of 400-500 cuts companywide, focusing on corporate staff, the two newspapers and the company’s seven other papers, including Newsday in New York, the Orlando Sentinal, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant.

Tribune Co. spokesman Gary Weitman declined to comment on that figure.

The media conglomerate also owns two dozen TV stations and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Its interactive division oversees the company’s TV and newspaper sites, plus various special interest sites that feature local sports, entertainment and dining information.

Cuts in Chicago are expected to come from the Tribune, as well as Hoy in Chicago, RedEye, Chicago Magazine and online products such as ChicagoTribune.com, according to Chicago Tribune Media Group spokesman Michael Dizon.

The group has about 3,000 employees, Dizon said.

He said it was unclear just how many cuts would come from simply not filling current openings, layoffs and from voluntary or involuntary severance packages.

In Los Angeles, Hiller said the cuts would be made in much the same way: attrition, voluntary buyouts and layoffs. There, the cuts will be made throughout the Los Angeles Times Media Group, which has 3,600 employees at the Times, weekly newspapers, Hoy in Los Angeles and latimes.com, according to spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan.

Both publishers’ memos cited economic problems at the papers, with Smith, for example, telling staffers that total revenue from the Chicago media group was down 5 percent in January and that “ad revenue was down double digits, a continuation of the trend late last year.”

He also said cash flow had dropped more than the 8 percent it fell in 2007. Further, he said, “The near term outlook shows few signs of improvement.”

And Hiller said the economic picture was “well worse than was forecast” late last year when real estate magnate Zell took Tribune Co. private in an $8.2 billion buyout.

The cuts come just weeks after Los Angeles Times Editor James O’Shea left the paper, with O’Shea saying he was fired after rejecting a management order to cut the newsroom budget and Hiller characterizing O’Shea’s departure as voluntary.

In one of a series of regular “Talk to Sam” e-mails sent to staffers, Zell explained the need for the cuts Wednesday.

Zell, who has said he was not interested in widespread cost-slashing, wrote that the “weak economy and significant declines in advertising volume at our newspapers” have hurt cash flow.

“Unfortunately, I can’t turn this ship from its course of the past 10 years within just a few months,” he wrote. “Further, while I will do everything in my power to drive, pull and drag this company forward, I can’t promise we won’t see additional position eliminations in the future, if we continue at our current rate of cash flow decline.”

But Zell, who said most of the cuts will come from what he called “support service areas” such as finance, human resources and technology, sounded a hopeful note, even saying he wanted the company to eventually add staffers.

“This,” he said of the cuts, “is not my ultimate strategy for our company. I believe we can achieve greatness. I have staked my reputation on it.”

AP-ES-02-13-08 1716EST