Google lays off staff
It seems that even that mighty behemoth Google is not immune to economic downturn. Yesterday the internet giant announced plans to cut 300 staff from DoubleClick.
It seems that even that mighty behemoth Google is not immune to economic downturn. Yesterday the internet giant announced plans to cut some 300 staff from its latest acquisition, DoubleClick.
The layoff of staff from the US arm of the company has cut the 1200 strong team by a quarter. Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt says the axe my fall on overseas employees of the company at a later date..
“Since our acquisition of DoubleClick closed on March 11, 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 head-count at the acquired company.” Some workers have been laid off already, while Google says others are being offered transitional roles, or contract jobs, which are expected to end after the two companies are fully integrated.
Google’s purchase of DoubleClick (at over $3 billion) is its largest acquisition to date. Google faced a long battle to purchase the company after being heavily cricised by privacy groups which had argued that the deal would deliver Google with unprecedented access to information about consumers’ online behaviour. Heavyweights Microsoft and AT&T also opposed the transaction, which was finally approved by the Federal Trade Commission in December.
Reported by Cec Busby
