Citing a leaked memo to staff, a number of news sources this morning have reported that the publishing group is in talks to sell its controlled circulation magazines, as part of a reorganisation of its Reed Business Information division in the US.

Controlled circulation magazines are the dominant business model of the trade magazine industry, where magazines are sent out free of charge to named individuals, funded by advertising.

RBI US chief executive John Poulin allegedly warned in the memo that the reorganisation would result in "title closures and job losses".

Poulin added that the move reflected the "impact of the structural changes in our markets, accelerated by the recession".

Last year, Reed Elsevier attempted to offload RBI for £1.3bn, but the financial crisis overtook the sales process and the publisher was forced to drop the price to £650m before scrapping the sales process altogether.