In an interview running over at MediaWeek Time Inc., chairman/CEO Ann Moore talks a bit about the "uncharted waters" the company finds itself in these days and whether employees should expect more layoffs.

We're expecting 2009 to be a rough year. It's pretty gloomy in the first quarter. It's very hard to see visibility. But I still believe after 30 years we're in a wonderful business. Editing and packaging of information in a world of too much information is a core competency that's going to be needed more, not less.

As for for future shutterings and layoffs, they don't seem to be in the cards

No. We shut down Cottage Living, but the Time Inc. magazines are profitable. There was a little dustup over that. That's not on my agenda....As hard as it's been on everyone, you do layoffs, and I don't think you're ever done. I believe in continuous improvement. But there are no major layoffs planned.

Meanwhile the has some good news to celebrate. According the Nielsen's December 2008 figures the company is one of the 20 largest online media properties as well as ranking among top 20 for user engagement. Full release after the jump.

New York, January 26, 2009 — Time Inc. today announced its online network is one of the 20 largest online media properties. This ranking comes from a Nielsen Online December 2008 custom analysis.

According to Nielsen’s figures, Time Inc. network’s unduplicated monthly audience of more than 25.6 million unique visitors, the aggregate audience of its 26 U.S. web sites, makes the company the 18th largest media property online. Time Inc. also ranks among the top 20 based on engagement metrics. These include: time spent per user, (Time Inc. ranked 17th) with 18:37 minutes per user per month; and page views per unique visitor, (Time Inc. ranked 16th) with an average of 29 monthly page views per unique visitor. Other digital properties in this top 20 custom analysis are listed below.

Time Inc. Executive Vice President John Squires explained, “Time Inc. reaches more unique visitors than any other magazine publisher. These latest figures from Nielsen reinforce the fact that Time Inc.’s web sites are competitive with all media companies including social networking sites and web portals, providing consumers the information they want, when and how they want it. An example of this is our success with online video. Last month CNNMoney.com had more than 21 million video streams (Nielsen Online, VideoCensus.), making it the number one site for video in the financial news category. With so much information available online, consumers are gravitating towards Time Inc.’s brands for trusted, edited content.”

Time Inc.’s U.S. digital properties include: CNNMoney.com, SI.COM, People.com, TIME.COM, EW.COM, InStyle.com, SouthernLiving.com, RealSimple.com, CookingLight.com, SIKids.com, Essence.com, Sunset.com, TimeForKids.com, Health.com, LIFE.com, CoastalLiving.com, PeopleenEspanol.com, Golf.com, ThisOldHouse.com, SouthernAccents.com, AllYou.com, Fortune.com, MyRecipes.com , MyHomeIdeas.com , FanNation.com, and Celebrity Baby Blog.

About Time Inc.

Time Inc., a Time Warner company, is one of the largest content companies in the world. With 23 magazines and 26 web sites in the U.S., it is the country’s largest publisher. Each month, one out of every two American adults reads a Time Inc. magazine, and nearly one out of every six, who are online, visits a company web site (more than 25 million monthly unique visitors). Time Inc.’s popular brands and successful franchises extend to online, television, cable VOD, satellite radio, mobile devices, events and branded products.

Nielsen Online Unique Visitor Ranking for Selected Media Properties

1 Google

2 Microsoft

3 Yahoo!

4 AOL LLC

5 News Corp. Online

6 InterActiveCorp

7 Facebook

8 Wikimedia Foundation

9 CBS Corporation

10 New York Times Company

11 Walt Disney Internet Group

12 Turner Network (Time Warner)

13 Landmark Communications

14 Scripps Networks Interactive

15 Viacom Digital

16 Time Warner (not inc. Turner Network)

17 General Electric

18 Time Inc. Network

19 Gannett

20 The Hearst Corporation

Source: Nielsen Online, Custom Analysis, December 2008

Notes: The Time Inc. Network is a custom roll-up including sites also represented in the Turner and Time Warner properties.

Ranking excludes properties whose sites are primarily e-commerce driven and those whose sites are primarily not wholly-owned by the parent company.