STAMFORD, Conn. — Champion International Corp. said it will sell businesses with $1.4 billion in sales, cut 11 percent of its work force, and take a charge of $553 million in a plan to focus on its more profitable paper operations.

The maker of paper and pulp said it will sell five businesses involved in newsprint, recycling, coated and uncoated specialty papers, and packaging, and will sell 325,000 acres of timberland.

The charge will be about $5.77 a share, and is expected to be recorded in the fourth quarter.

Champion’s actions, which are expected to lift pretax profit by $400 million a year, come after other paper companies moved to trim jobs and sell assets.

International Paper Co. said in July it will cut 10 percent of its work force and sell $1 billion in assets, and Georgia-Pacific Corp. said last month it will give shareholders separate stock for its timber group.

“This is what the market wanted Champion to deliver,” said Kathryn McAuley, an analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman. “The divestitures are businesses that weren’t emphasizing the company’s strengths.”

Champion shares rose 1 5/8 to 66 1/8 in early trading.

The businesses to be sold employ about 26 percent of its work force, Champion said. After it sells the businesses, it will cut staff from the remaining operations by 11 percent over the next three years. Champion plans further savings through cost reduction, improved efficiency and changes in its product lines.

Champion said it will sell its newsprint business, which includes two Texas mills, in Lufkin and Sheldon. It will also sell its paper recycling business, based in Houston, and will sell a mill in Deferiet, N.Y., that makes coated and uncoated specialty papers, used in annual reports and advertising inserts.

The company will also sell an Ohio premium-paper mill, and mills in Canton and Waynesville, N.C., six DairyPak packaging plants, and 325,000 acres of timberland in New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Proceeds from the asset sales will be used to pay down debt and reduce interest expense, the company said.

Champion said it has identified the businesses that offer the best opportunities for profit. It plans to make acquisitions in coated papers, which are used in magazines and catalogs and softwood timberlands, which support the company’s other businesses, said Gail Doar, a company spokeswoman.

The company also has plans to expand its paper distribution business and reposition its uncoated free-sheet business, though it did not specify how. Uncoated free-sheet is the kind of paper used in copier machines.

Champion said it doesn’t expect to build new pulp or paper mills in North America, but will continue to evaluate opportunities in Brazil, where it already has such operations.

The company also said it will form joint ventures to improve its competitive position and to minimize investment.

“The buzzword is `focus’,” Brown Brothers’ McAuley said. “The point of restructuring is generating higher returns. Through the process of becoming more focused, you become more profitable. That’s the current thinking in the industry.”

Bowater Inc., Temple-Inland Inc., Union Camp Corp., Jefferson Smurfit Corp., Boise Cascade Corp. and Louisiana-Pacific Corp. are among companies that may pursue a similar strategy, analysts have said.

“We will increase the profit potential of our ongoing businesses and manage our company with greater financial discipline,” said Richard Olson, Champion’s chairman and chief executive, in a statement.

Champion reported 1996 net income of $141.3 million, or $1.48 a share, on sales of $5.88 billion. That was a sharp drop from 1995 net income of $771.8 million, or $8.01, on sales of $6.97 billion.

Champion shares have risen from about 45 in March, when the company said it would make major changes to increase profit without specifying what they would be.

At the time, it hired consulting firm Marakon Associates to help it review its businesses, plants, organizational structure and management processes, and said it changed its executive compensation policies. It said long-term compensation for executives will be based on stock appreciation and dividend yield, and company managers will be required to own a certain amount of shares.

Champion International is expected to earn 6 cents in the third quarter, the average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by IBES International Inc. For 1997 as a whole, it is expected to lose 23 cents, the average of 17 analysts polled by IBES.