Over at Mixed Media, there’s some talk about Time Warner spinning off Time Inc.

The evidence: Time Inc. is streamlining.

They pulled the plug on Business 2.0 a few weeks ago. And there was "restructuring" at Sports Illustrated and Time earlier this year.

Sources say if Time Inc. is spun off, it would be as an IPO, not a leveraged buy out.

But this is all conjecture. After all, the last piece of evidence of the spin-off is that their magazines are run by “15 old white guys," which has been a winning formula for almost every magazine published ever.

Time Inc. will finally decide whether to kill off Business 2.0 next week. [FOLIO]

After a somewhat significant failure of his Office Pirates launch, the site's founding editor Mark Golin has been re-shuffled within Time Inc. Today, People.com announced that Golin will join the site, earning the highly prestigious title of "editor." He will work right along side Martha Nelson (People Group editor) to "oversee online editorial operations and site development."

Golin has a pretty packed resume, which includes a mix of both magazine and Web experience. And, no, not all of those publications had the same fate as Office Pirates.

But Golin made his real mark in magazines. After a decade at Rodale, he moved to Hearst Magazines' Cosmopolitan as deputy editor. In 1998, he became the editor in chief of Dennis Publishing's Maxim, where he led the U.S. laddie invasion with his sharp wit. He also was editor in chief of Condé Nast's Details.

He joins another former mag EIC, Angela Matusik (the second to occupy now defunct Budget Living's top spot) on the site's masthead. And if we wait just a few more months, maybe someone there will be able to secure Ariel Foxman a job.

Office Pirates/Maxim Vet Golin Named People.com Editor [Lisa Granatstein, Mediaweek]

People magazine was awarded the honorable Henry Luce award for "magazine of the year," and boy did they throw a fancy awards ceremony. They gathered in a conference room, with seats, and even catered lunch that would put Conde Cafers to shame.

And how much do we love that the magazine/tabloid, who managed to wrangle those beautiful people in Africa for a cover shot, took home the top award? Oh yeah, they took a few Hurricane Katrina photos, too. We had no idea they were even up for this amazing award — but the people at People weren't very surprised.

Editors from the company's various titles gathered for a lunch of grilled chicken and shrimp "with some sort of pilaf," as awards were handed out in 11 categories …

… "The funny thing is, they tell you in advance how many people you can bring, and you only get extra seats if you've won an award, so everyone knows the outcome in advance," said one Time Inc. staffer

That is funny, especially because it enforces that old "winners are better than losers" mentality. Too bad Time Inc. is so low on cash. Maybe everyone could have brought a friend and they would have been able to eat lobster and avocado salad.

Little Luce Cup [Sara James, WWD]

• Time Inc. is hiring big-shots, and you know what that means. Pink slips for everyone! [NYP]

• As if you needed another reason to laugh at the Bauer kids. [WWD]

• Rupurt Murdoch taught his kiddies well. His son James totally reads blogs. [Financial Times]

• Who knew that someday, the real estate section would be the toughest beat on the block? [NYP]

• Everyone at Wal-Mart will soon be smiling — except for the employees who work there. They still get paid like $2 an hour. [Ad Week]

It's really unlike us to focus on the other side of the media industry (biz=yawn).

But when a three parts Bruce Wasserstein, and a splash of Jessica Simpson, are mixed with pineapple juice, and served fresh, we are drunk on the business section of the New York Times.

Besides having a job in which thinking matters, Wasserstein's ownership of New York magazine and participation in the fight over Time Warner make him a media spotlighter — not to mention that he's probably going to own us all someday. (Start sending the cases of pineapple juice now, guys. And throw down the $2.50 for the card.)

Look how funny business gossip is:

Mr. Wasserstein's choice to work with Mr. Icahn, however, was no accident. But it was a decision that sent Wall Street into a tizzy because Lazard, a white-shoe firm, had done the unspeakable: it had signed up with a corporate raider to take aim at Mr. Wasserstein's former client.

A tizzy? We think we'll stick with the sex tapes and stripper rumors.

He Likes Challenges. But Time Warner? [Andrew Ross Sorkin, NYT]

• Let's stop and consider: what would Jesus blog? [NYP]

• You know you've made it media when college kids name drinking games after you. [Denver Westword]

• Aha! We wondered who was responsible for this insanity: you can now blame Jeff Jarvis for teaching James Wolcott how to blog. [Buzz Machine]

• We know someone who is defnitely keeping their Per Se reservation: Jeff Bewkes, the newly named president and COO of Time Warner. [Media Week]

• We're taking Bill O'Reilly out of D.C. for entertainment purposes. [Wonkette, Sepiamutiny]