The Daily, a tablet-only publication introduced with much fanfare last year by Rupert Murdoch of the News Corporation and the Apple executive Eddy Cue, said Tuesday it would lay off almost one-third of its 170 full-time staff members.

The news, first reported by All Things Digital, comes as the News Corporation prepares to split its publishing operations into a company separate from its lucrative entertainment assets. The Daily is scheduled to join the publishing company, expected to be formed within the next year.

In a statement, the media company reinforced its commitment to The Daily and said the restructuring would “enable the business to operate more efficiently and with even greater focus on the types of content that that consumers have gravitated towards since its launch.”

Late Tuesday afternoon, The Daily informed its staff that 50 full-time employees would be “released.” The cutbacks will mostly affect the publication’s sports and opinion sections, which see the lightest traffic. The Daily will no longer have a stand-alone opinion section and will get its sports coverage from partners like Fox News, according to a memo sent to the staff.

“These are important changes that will allow The Daily to be more nimble editorially and to focus on the elements that our readers have told us through their consumption that they like and want,” Jesse Angelo, The Daily’s editor in chief, said in a statement.

He added: “Unfortunately, these changes have forced us to make difficult decisions and to say goodbye to some colleagues who have worked hard to make The Daily successful.”