• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, July 1, 2013

Even as Tribune Co. unveiled plans to acquire a number of TV stations across the U.S., there was far less cheery news about the bottom line. The company announced a steep decline in profits and said it would be undertaking another round of staff cuts at the struggling Los Angeles Times.

Tribune revealed that total profits tumbled 41% from $99.1 million in the first quarter of 2012 to $58.4 million in the first quarter of 2013, as revenues dropped 3.3% from $729 million to $705 million.

As in previous quarters, Tribune’s newspapers turned in the worst performance, with revenues tumbling 9% to $254 million. Retail advertising revenues fell 7% to $129 million, while classifieds slipped 7% to $69 million.

Managers were wielding the axe at the Los Angeles Times, where at least 20 staffers were laid off late last week, including members of the editorial and graphics departments, according to Variety. These and other cost-cutting measures may be intended to make the newspaper more attractive to buyers.

Tribune is said to be soliciting bids for the LAT and other big newspapers.

The news of further revenue declines and layoffs comes as Tribune, recently emerged from a tortuous, four-year-long bankruptcy, seeks to reposition itself by divesting its newspapers and bolstering its broadcast TV holdings.On Monday,Tribune also announced the planned acquisition of 19 local TV stations from Local TV Holdings, in a $2.73 billion deal that includes a collection of Fox affiliates in Denver, Cleveland, St. Louis and Kansas City.

The Tribune-Local TV deal follows another big broadcast play by newspaper publisher Gannett, which said it will pay $1.5 billion for a collection of stations belong to Belo Corp.