Meredith Corp. announced this morning that it will lay off 250 employees, close Country Home magazine and relocate the creative departments of its ReadyMade brand and Parents.com to Des Moines.

About 40 percent of the positions eliminated are in Des Moines, including 40 at Country Home. The rest of the cuts were across the board.

“The recessionary economy has impacted both publishing and broadcasting advertising, which accounts for approximately 60 percent of our revenue stream,” said Meredith President and CEO Stephen Lacy in a release. “Trends indicate a continuing soft economy into calendar 2009 as well.”

Meredith spokesman Art Slusark said in its fiscal first quarter, advertising revenues in Meredith’s publishing sector and non-political advertising were off about 15 percent. The company will announce its second-quarter earnings in the next couple of weeks, “but I can tell you, advertising in both businesses weakened since the end of the first quarter,” Slusark said.

These changes will result in a special charge of about $16 million in Meredith’s fiscal 2009 second quarter, which ended Dec. 31.

The decision to cease publication of Country Home was due to declining advertising revenues and the ability to continue to serve the readership through Better Homes and Gardens and products in its special interest media group, Slusark said. The magazine will end publication with its March issue.

Meredith’s Des Moines office will gain 10 additional positions with the move of ReadyMade and Parents.com to Des Moines.

Slusark added that Meredith has tried to control expenses over the past couple of years, including renegotiating vendor contracts, which has saved the company about $30 million a year, and expanding its revenue streams outside of advertising, such as with a new mattress line announced last week.

“Were working very closely to try to impact as few employees as possible and still achieve cost savings that we think are needed given the recessionary economy,” he said.

People whose positions are cut will receive two weeks’ severance for every year of service, health insurance and benefits during the severance period and outplacement services.

Meredith has fewer than 1,000 employees in Des Moines.