One of our commentators noted our news post covering Gaia Online trumpeting its record users was terrifically ill-timed, because despite that kind of news, the company announced that this week it is laying off 36 employees (or accordingly, 13% of its workforce)—sixteen of which were full time and twenty of which were contractors.

According to a blog post from the company, the layoffs are the result of "the huge downturn in the economy" requiring "staff reductions and other operating cost cuts as [they] head into an uncertain 2009."

"While we are still anticipating a healthy upcoming year, we're going to grow less than we originally expected," the post continues, "and we have to adjust costs to reflect the new realities."

The post concludes that the company has "raised a lot of money from investors a few years back"—indeed, as recently as this July—and as a result does "not need to make as deep a headcount reduction as most other internet companies."