(Crain's) — The Chicago Tribune cut about 15 editorial employees today as the media company continues to shrink its newsroom.

The employees dismissed included reporters, editors and managers, according to sources familiar with the layoffs. They follow an employee buyout last month and a round of staff reductions in July.

The paper, the biggest in the city and a unit of Chicago-based Tribune Co., is creating a leaner workforce to reduce costs and revive profits as it prepares to exit bankruptcy later this year under its new creditor-owners.

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Tribune Co., which also owns the Los Angeles Times as well as 23 TV stations across the U.S., is trying to return to profitability at a time when newspaper companies have been hard-pressed to boost revenue after online alternatives diverted both advertisers and readers.

“The Chicago Tribune does not publicly discuss internal personnel matters," company spokesman Gary Weitman said. "Like most companies, the Tribune makes decisions about staff skills and composition based on customer needs and business conditions.”

The Chicago Tribune last month completed a buyout that led to the departure of fewer than 10 editorial employees. Last July, the paper cut about 20 employees, mainly in the newsroom, including some veteran reporters and editors. The paper has also been hiring some reporters following the expansion of news content pages last year.

Earlier this year, the Chicago Tribune also dismissed most of the security staff that worked at the company's landmark Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue, but many of the employees were hired back by a company to which the paper outsourced the work.