* Glossy magazine, weekend edition target new advertisers

* Aims for net profit in 2012-publisher

* Deal with printing unions to axe two-thirds of staff

By Leila Abboud

PARIS, March 16 (Reuters) - The new owners of France's Le Monde are trying to drag the venerable daily newspaper into the Internet age via a website and newsroom revamp in the latest move to reverse years of losses.

The new website will go live on Monday, capping a tumultuous year at France's left-leaning daily in which the editing ranks were overhauled and a prolonged strike averted by reaching a deal with the powerful printers' union.

Two-thirds of the printing staff will be axed and production of the paper outside Paris outsourced to regional presses, bringing much earlier delivery in cities such as Marseille and Lyon.

In September, Le Monde also shed its usually staid style to launch a weekend edition with a glossy magazine focusing on fashion and luxury.

Some 15 percent of reporters have been replaced by fresher, often younger, staff after 40 journalists took buyouts.

The moves should allow Le Monde to reach net profitability this year, after posting an operating profit in 2011, its publisher Louis Dreyfus told Reuters in an interview.

"We have made a lot of progress on our main priorities in the past year and grown our readership," said Dreyfus.

"With the magazine, we wanted to convince advertisers that Le Monde can be glamorous and fashionable too...It's also attracting more younger and female readers."

Le Monde teetered on the brink of bankruptcy two years ago, prompting investment banker Mathieu Pigasse, telecoms tycoon Xavier Niel and wealthy industrialist Pierre Berge to inject 110 million euros to take control.

Staff and the French political elite worried that the paper might lose its prized independence.

But the takeover has meant that Le Monde has reversed the decline in readership and ad sales plaguing much of the French press.

Business daily La Tribune and tabloid France Soir both killed their print editions last year while regional newspaper group Hersant renegotiated its heavy debt load with creditors.

Le Monde's daily paid circulation grew 2 percent last year to 292,062, making it the second-biggest daily in the country after right-leaning Le Figaro.

Its website, now being revamped, is France's third most visited media website after sports newspaper L'Equipe and Le Figaro.

The new site, which will open in test form on Saturday, features more photos, video and customised content and will allow readers to interact directly with journalists via live chats and Twitter feeds.

To make this possible, separate print and web reporting teams are being merged.

A unified group of 35 political reporters has already been set up to cover France's upcoming presidential elections. Next in line are the paper's business and economics reporters.

"Our building must be a big factory producing information for all medias: the newspaper, the web, smartphones and tablets," said editor-in-chief Erik Izraelewicz.

• A Permanent Economic Emergency