LA Times publisher Eddy Hartenstein took the stand today in the Tribune Company bankruptcy trial. Bloomberg was on site and filed a short dispatch describing Hartenstein’s testimony.

We found this little section especially revealing:

Hartenstein said the bankruptcy has prevented the company from keeping up with the rest of the publishing industry by consolidating operations, and has prevented the company from effectively pursuing new ventures with potential media partners.

“We are hampered and hobbled by the fact that we are still in bankruptcy,” Hartenstein said at the beginning of questioning by attorneys for Tribune.

Hmmm, doesn’t “consolidating operations” usually mean layoffs? The LA Times doesn’t seem to have had too much trouble with that in the past few years. And is Hartenstein implying that should Tribune emerge from bankruptcy under the company’s current plan we’re going to see more layoffs?

Or have we just lost our gift for corporate-speak? What else could “consolidating operations” mean?