DoubleClick layoffs have started
Updated
Google has started laying off employees at recently acquired web advertiser DoubleClick, according to Vanity Fair and Silicon Alley Insider. Vanity Fair identifies “the entire finance department” as part of the cuts.
We’ve already reported that the layoffs would start today, although we got a “no comment” when we asked Google’s press office about it yesterday. After the search giant finally completed its $3.1 billion DoubleClick acquisition last month, chief executive Eric Schmidt acknowledged that Google would probably eliminate some of the web advertisers’ staff.
From a business perspective, at least some reductions probably make sense — Schmidt says Google spent too much on hiring even before the DoubleClick deal, and click-throughs on Google ads are flat. That’s probably no consolation to employees who are getting shown the door, but at least Silicon Alley Insider has already found other companies who want to hire them.
[Update: The New York Times reports that 300 of DoubleClick's 1,200 American employees are being laid off. Google will also plans to sell off DoubleClick's Performics Search Marketing unit. Ellen Siminoff, chairman of search marketing company Efficient Frontier, told the Times she isn't surprised by the proposed sale: Performics' goal is to help clients get the most value out of their ads, while Google's goal is to get the most money out of its ad clients. Those goals may not be compatible.]
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About the Author, Anthony Ha
Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.