AOL after Time Warner will be a substantially smaller company, at least in terms of the number of people it employs. The Internet pioneer, which is the parent of DailyFinance, revealed the rough outlines of a long-anticipated downsizing Thursday, saying it plans to reduce its global workforce by one-third, or 2,500 people, following its spin-off from Time Warner (TWX) next month.

To achieve that figure, the company is offering enhanced severance packages to volunteers who step forward between Dec. 4 and Dec. 11. (The spin-off will take place Dec. 9.) If the reduction can't be achieved solely through voluntary departures, the remainder will take the form of layoffs, with those workers receiving less-generous severance pay and benefits.

Remember Steve Case? He's the guy that used to send you diskettes in the mail to get you to sign up for America Online so you could dial-up to the Internet. Then, in January 2000, he sold AOL to Time Warner (TWX) -- ultimate parent of DailyFinance -- in a $166 billion deal. On Dec. 9, Case's mutated creation, AOL, will become an independent company again.

But Case has moved on since 2000. And Wednesday, he scored a smaller financial victory when he sold Revolution Money to American Express (AXP) for $300 million, according to the The New York Times. Revolution Money lets users pay for things online using a Personal Identification Number with cards that lack names or account numbers. Compared to American Express, it's a lower cost, more secure way to pay.

Sears Holding Corp. (SHLD) posted a smaller third-quarter loss Thursday of $127 million, or $1.09 per share, combating customers' continued desire to spend money elsewhere with tighter inventory management and cost-control efforts. Shares jumped 4% in pre-market trading. Excluding store closing costs and other items, Sears lost 81 cents per share, less than the average estimate of $1.09 loss per share.

The comic book industry may not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but it has withstood the worst economic decline since the Great Depression fairly well.

According to industry estimates, sales to specialty retailers rose 1% to $324.66 million between January and September. Experts say that it's too soon to say whether they will show a gain for the year because of the importance of holiday sales. But if sales do decline, it would be the industry's first drop-off since 2000. Those figures do not include sales of comics and graphic novels at Barnes & Noble (BKS) and other book store chains.

Home Depot (HD) said Tuesday that its third-quarter earnings fell 8.9% to $689 million, or 41 cents per share, as the housing and renovation markets remained weak. Revenue fell 8% to $16.36 billion. Same-store sales dropped 6.9%. Results beat estimates of 36 cents per share on revenue of $16.27 billion. The company also raised its full-year earnings outlook. Shares declined over 2% ahead of the bell.

Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) said Tuesday that it will buy Semitool Inc. (SMTL) for $11 a share in an all-cash tender offer. The aggregate purchase price is about $364 million. Semitool shares, which closed Monday 10% higher at $8.4, shot up 30% in premarket trading to $10.94 at last check.

Lazard Ltd. (LAZ) announced Monday it has appointed Kenneth M. Jacobs, 51, as chairman of the board of directors and CEO, effective immediately. Jacobs replaces Bruce Wasserstein, who died on Oct. 14.

Lou Dobbs's replacement may not draw the same kind of ratings as his predecessor, but he won't cause the same kind of headaches, either.

The network announced Thursday that John King will be getting a new show at 7:00 p.m., following the sudden departure of Dobbs, a long-time fixture whose increasingly strident politics have made him an awkward presence on a channel that strives for a middle-of-the-road image.

A former White House correspondent with impeccable straight-news credentials, King now hosts the Sunday morning show State of the Union, which will remain on the air for the time being. His new show will also focus on politics -- although presumably not on the sort of angry immigrant-bashing and conspiracy-mongering that reportedly caused CNN president Jon Klein to order Dobbs to tone down his rhetoric or find a new perch.

Lou Dobbs, the voluble CNN anchor who became a political lightning rod for his outspoken views on immigration and global trade, is leaving the cable news network effective immediately, he announced on his show Wednesday night. Dobbs, one of the premier news broadcasters in the television business, was the last of the original anchors at CNN, which pioneered the cable news format 30 years ago. Dobbs's contract extended through the end of 2011, but he said CNN had agreed to let him leave early.

"Some leaders in the media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond my role here at CNN and engage in constructive problem-solving," said Dobbs, who had dubbed himself "Mr. independent" of late, adding that he aimed to stay involved in the national discourse.

For a publisher celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, Harlequin has been thinking ahead. Much of the voluminous catalog from the romance publisher is available for digital download in multiple formats, so fans of steamy novels can access all they want on their Kindles, iPhones, and netbooks at the ready, without worrying that particular titles will disappear from bookstores when the next month's titles arrive.

Harlequin's longstanding policy of acquiring worldwide rights in all formats means it has the means to reach a global audience with whatever reading format they choose: print, digital, audio, or something that doesn't exist yet. So it seems like a no-brainer that Harlequin, a division of Toronto-based Torstar Corp. (TORSF), would launch an imprint devoted exclusively to digital books. But Carina Press, which will operate independently of Harlequin, might pave the way for major publishers to put their money where their e-book mouth is.

I'm beginning to suspect the Parents Television Council is actually a front group controlled by the entertainment industry. The group, which calls itself "the nation's most influential advocacy organization," has trained its rhetorical cannons on The CW Network, which has been promoting an upcoming episode of Gossip Girl featuring a three-way sexual romp between its teenage characters.

"To include a storyline like this on a program that is expressly targeted to impressionable teenagers is reckless and irresponsible," says PTC president Tim Winter. "We are asking each CW Network affiliate to use their common sense and preempt this episode."

On Wednesday morning, during Time Warner (TWX)'s third-quarter earnings conference call, chairman Jeff Bewkes said, "We'll continue to take a look at non-strategic and less profitable titles."

Apparently, one of those non-strategic titles is Fortune Small Business. A Time Inc. spokesman confirms to DailyFinance that the Fortune spin-off is suspending publication.

The news comes just as the publisher embarks on a fresh round of job cuts aimed at saving $100 million in costs. Between 400 and 500 jobs will be eliminated, according to The New York Times, only a year after the company shed 600 workers.

Media conglomerate Time Warner Inc. (TWX) reported a 38 percent drop in third-quarter profit, hurt by declines at its AOL and publishing segments.

But the results beat expectations and the company is boosting its full-year earnings forecast.

The media company, based in New York, said it is still on track to spin off its struggling AOL unit. Its shares rose 2.7 percent to $31 in premarkt trading.

The guillotine has begun its descent at Time Inc. Sources at the publishing company (which is part of the same conglomerate as DailyFinance parent AOL) say executives have asked for an emergency meeting with representatives of the Newspaper Guild to discuss job eliminations. A Time Inc. spokeswoman declined to comment, but John Shostrom, chairman of the company's Guild unit, said the meeting will take place "soon." He said it was Time Inc. that called the meeting.

"They act, and we react," said Shostrom. "The Guild doesn't lay people off. We just fight back when they make proposals to lay people off."

The media recession may be gradually lifting, according to Rupert Murdoch and Janet Robinson, but that doesn't mean everyone with a publishing job is going to make it to the other side. Forbes Inc. embarked on a fresh round of layoffs this week, and employees at Time Inc., the world's biggest magazine company, are expecting to get similar news any day now.

The downsizing at Forbes comes just six months after the company eliminated a reported 50 jobs and treated remaining workers to pay cuts, furloughs and a suspension of 401(k) contributions. All told, it's the fourth round of cuts in a year. So far, the only employees let go have been on the business side; editorial layoffs are slated to come down on Wednesday. A Forbes spokeswoman declined to comment on details of the restructuring, but WebMediaBrands CEO Alan Meckler says 30 staffers are out of jobs.

First Portfolio, the business magazine launched just two years ago by publishing giant Conde Nast, folded. Then, the largest business magazine in America, BusinessWeek, was sold by its parent company, McGraw-Hill (MHP), to Bloomberg for as little as $3 million plus its subscription liabilities. Now, Fortune, started by Time, Inc. founder Henry Luce, will cut its publishing frequency from 25 times a year to 18 times. According to several media reports, Time, Inc. will also cut several hundred jobs. Time, Inc. is part of media giant Time Warner (TWX).

Like BusinessWeek, Fortune began publishing during The Great Depression in 1930, when it came onto the market bearing the steep price tag of $1 an issue. It was printed on heavy paper and contained a sustained level of expensive photography and illustrations not found in other business magazines. Fortune published monthly until 1978, when it changed it frequency to fortnightly in order to match the publishing schedule of rival Forbes.

Sir Isaac Newton could see as far as he did, he said, because he stood on the shoulders of giants. Ted Turner, it seems, has footprints on either side of his neck, while the likes of Rupert Murdoch get to enjoy the view. Father of the 24-hour cable news industry, Turner is now on the sidelines with but a few billion dollars of his fortune left, no media company to call his own and only the memory of sharing a bed with movie star Jane Fonda.

Turner "feels like a dummy," he tells Bloomberg News, despite the fact that he's now "working on issues that are life or death for us," through his role as co-chair of the Nuclear Threat Initiative -- a job he shares with former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn. Once a media mogul, Turner has put the world of News Corp (NWS), Time Warner (TWX) and Viacom (VIA) behind him. Now, he's reinventing himself in the government policy arena and focusing on challenges of greater importance.