Google Announces DoubleClick Layoffs

It’s not good news, but it wasn’t unexpected. Now that legislators have allowed Google’s $3 billion purchase of online ad company DoubleClick to go ahead, Google has decided to lay off 300 DoubleClick employees, about one-quarter of its US staff (worldwide, DoubleClick employs about 1500people).   In a statement, Google said,   “Since our acquisition of DoubleClick closed on March 11, we have been working to match and align DoubleClick employees in the U.S. with ourorganizational plan for the business. As with many mergers, this review has resulted in a reduction in headcount at the acquired company.”   Google had said a month ago that layoffs werelikely. Reportedly, some employees have already been laid off, and other will be offered contract jobs that will only last until the two companies are fully integrated.   In a linked move,Google also announced it was selling the Performics Search Marketing arm of DoubleClick, which aids markets in putting ads on different search engines. In ablog entry, Google said, “It’s clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business. Maintaining objectivity in both search and advertising is paramount toGoogle’s mission and core to the trust we ask from our users. For this reason, we plan to sell the Performics search marketing business to a third party. We believe this will allow us tomaintain objectivity and the search marketing business to continue to grow and innovate and serve its customers. While we have not yet identified a buyer, we’ve received preliminary interestfrom a number of our current partners. Search Marketing will continue to run as a separate entity until the division is sold.”