John Poulin, chief executive of Reed Business Information in the US, told employees he expected to announce the sale of various titles to separate buyers in the coming months after the company failed to sell the whole business in 2008.

"This unfortunately will result in title closures and job losses across the business," Mr Poulin wrote in a memo to staff at the end of December.

"I know this will come as a major disappointment but it reflects the impact of the structural changes in our markets, accelerated by the recession."

RBI US, which has its headquarters in New York and employs 2,300 people. plans to keep magazines such as Variety, which introduced a pay wall on its website in December, and Reed Construction Data US & Canada. But it hopes to sell all its controlled circulation titles, which are sent out free to subscribers and make up almost half of the division.

It is understood that Reed is in talks with a handful of small groups over the piecemeal sale of the division, which started in July and comes amid a slump in advertising.

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