April 08 2008
Performics search marketing up for sale
Google plans to sell the SEO part of its DoubleClick purchase and cut a quarter of its US workforce at DoubleClick.
In an announcement that was always on the cards Google has announced it will sell the Performics division of DoubleClick. Peformics helps websites boost their ranking in organic search results which obviously doesn’t sit well within Google. Why would they want an SEO company when they try to discourage anyone improving their results through SEO?
Performics was bought as part of the $3.2 billion DoubleClick deal that was finally given the green light last month. In addition to the Peformics sale Google also announced that there would be cuts at DoubleClick.
In a statement, Google said some 300 DoubleClick’s workers have been either laid off or put into “transitional” jobs that will eventually go.
In a statement, the company said: “We are confident that our combined organisational structure, along with the skills and experience of our new colleagues, will allow us to continue to offer great products and services to our customers.”
The 300 losses represent about a fifth of the DoubleClick workforce, and are solely in the US. However, Google warned that there may be more cuts outside the US.
"Since our acquisition of DoubleClick closed on 11 March we have been working to match and align DoubleClick employees in the US with our organisational plan for the business," said Google in a statement.
Ironically the Performics website homepage announces “We are happy to announce that Google has acquired DoubleClick.” DoubleClick has 1,200 workers in the US and another 300 worldwide.
