About 10 percent of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's 1,300 full-time workers will be laid off by the newspaper's publisher, Journal Sentinel Inc., the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

The 130 job cuts are due to a downturn in ad sales, and will be made by the end of the year.

Journal Sentinel's shares were at a 52-week low of US$4.39 Wednesday, but have been as high as $13.53 in the same time period, the AP reported in an article posted by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Employees will be given the option of leaving voluntarily, and will receive health care benefits and severance pay, the AP reported.

“Our advertising customers — especially car dealers, real estate agents, hiring officials, retailers and financial institutions — have been battered by a perfect storm of deteriorating credit conditions, slowing home sales, contracting company size and higher gas prices,” said Elizabeth Brenner, president and chief operating officer of publishing at Journal Communications, according to the AP.