Media giant, Time Warner Inc has said that it is planning to transform its magazine business, Time Inc into a separate publicly traded company during this year.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes in a statement that, "After a thorough review of options, we believe that a separation will better position both Time Warner and Time Inc. A complete spinoff of Time Inc. provides strategic clarity for Time Warner Inc., enabling us to focus entirely on our television networks and film and TV production businesses, and improves our growth profile."

Bewkes also said that the magazine business will benefit from being an independent publicly traded entity. The decision to spin-off the company was taken after the talks with Meredith about sale of magazines did not reach an agreement. Meredith was looking to buy magazines including People, InStyle and Real Simple but its CEO Stephen Lacy confirmed that the talks have been concluded without a deal.

He said that the two companies were looking to join some magazines to create a publicly traded company. Lacy said that the company will remain open to ideas about how the two firms can work together.

The publishing division of the Time Warner Inc accounts for 12 per cent of its revenues but it has been facing declining sales at newsstands and lower advertising revenue.