Compared to the 1,000 or so people being laid off at Yahoo, 13 isn’t too big a number.  Still, this is the number of people who have lost their jobs at iVillage, and editor-in-chief Jennie Baird was among them.

As everyone with a healthy sense of self-preservation realized some time ago, cuts are bound to become pretty common in a recession.  iVillage is owned by NBC, so there are the effects of the writers’ strike to deal with, as well.  Still, there are some odd circumstances surrounding these layoffs.

Adam Ostrow notes, “Looking at the Compete.com numbers, it appears that iVillage has had a significant drop in numbers over the past year, with uniques falling 35 percent.  Not so, according to our source, who says numbers are up about 12% year-over-year to 17 million unique visitors in January.”

Maggie Shnayerson relays information from yet another connected individual.  “These people were good enough to agree to go to hell (aka Englewood Cliffs) and they got canned . . . .  Many of them were promised bonuses to move . . . but they had to stay until Dec. 2008.  Big bonuses.  20% of their salaries.”

So, if these two rumors are true, we appear to wind up an unnecessarily greedy, yet modestly successful, company.  If they’re false, we’re likely looking at your average sinking-in-a-recession website.  Neither option looks too good, and we wish both past and present iVillage employees well.