Rosslyn Smith writes:

 

Note the reference to how this move was announced on the ever of the quarterly earnings report. 

 

Note also that there should be a nice transportation cost savings because of the reduced weight.  

 

Reducing page size appears to be a newspaper trend. A similar one hit news and trade magazines printed on glossy paper stock in the late 1970s when hyper inflation had everyone looking at ways to reduce paper, printing and postage costs.  I suspect the physical size of broadsheet newspapers has its origins in the capabilities of lead type and older style printing presses.  Formats have a strange way of hanging on after the reasons from them have been superceded by technology, much as we still type on QWERTY keyboards meant to prevent the superfast among us from jamming mechanical keys.