Google is laying off 300 employees of the recently acquired advertising technology company DoubleClick, it has emerged.
The layoffs represent about a quarter of DoubleClick’s US workforce, the New York Times reported. The company has about 1,500 employees worldwide.
Google has not confirmed the number of job losses, but stated: “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. As with many mergers, this review has resulted in a reduction in headcount at the acquired company.”
Job losses were expected following the acquisition and there are fears for further cuts in DoubleClick’s overseas operations.
“As with most mergers, there may be reductions in headcount. We expect these to take place in the US and possibly in other regions as well,” Google CEO Eric Schmidt said last month following the closure of the acquisition.
The Google acquisition of DoubleClick for US$3.1bn closed in March after the European Commission approved the deal.
Google has also announced its intention to sell part of Doubleclick, Performics Search Marketing.
“It’s clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business,” said Tom Phillips, director, DoubleClick Integration on the Google blog. “Maintaining objectivity in both search and advertising is paramount to Google’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 to maintain 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 interest from a number of our current partners. Search marketing will continue to run as a separate entity until the division is sold.”
By Niall Byrne
