Time Warner prepares to offer buyouts at Turner cable division

(Reuters) - Time Warner Inc's Turner cable division is preparing to offer buyouts targeting 500 to 600 staffers, or roughly 4 percent of its workforce, according to a person familiar with the company. Turner, which is home to cable networks such as CNN, TNT and the Cartoon Network, employs about 14,000 people. A spokeswoman for Turner did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. The buyout packages are part of a larger initiative at Turner to improve the efficiency of the division. During a quarterly earnings call on Aug. 6, Time Warner executives said the reorganization would likely be material in the second half of the year. During the second quarter, revenue at Turner rose 5 percent to $2.8 billion, buoyed by growth in subscriptions, but parts of the division have struggled with ratings and increased programming costs. The Wrap, an online publication that covers Hollywood, first reported the buyout news on Monday. (This version of the story fixes a typographical error in first paragraph by replacing "or" with "of".) (Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York. Editing by Andre Grenon)