By Cherri Gregg

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Just four months after the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com were sold for $55 million (see related story) — a fraction of their $515-million purchase price just six years ago — the papers have announced that they will get a little slimmer this fall.

The Inquirer and Daily News posted a memo on Wednesday annoucing that they will shrink the size of the paper by about four inches, taking the two dailies from 48 inches wide (unfolded) to 44 inches.

“That’s a much more mainstream size for a paper of our size,” says VP of external relations Mark Block, who says this change follows the lead publications like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.  “This is really making us more competitive as a printer, with our state-of-the-art printing facility in Conshohocken.”

Block says the change will mean cost savings, because a narrower publication means less paper.

As for what it means for readers, he says the editors hope to maintain the papers’ design and quality of news.

“We’re known for our long investigative journalism pieces, and we don’t see that going away,” he tells KYW Newsradio.