Google Cuts 200 Jobs in Sales and Marketing

Google has announced another round of layoffs, this time for about 200 people in sales and marketing. The move comes two months after the search giant said it would scale back hiring of recruiters.

"Just under 200 were affected with about half those working in North America," said Matt Furman, a Google spokesperson. "Everyone affected was told yesterday. Each person will be given a chance to find another job at Google and if they can’t or they choose to leave, they will be given severance."

The company also offered the affected employees outplacement support.

Second Round

In January, Google said it would scale back its engineering efforts by reassigning positions. The company closed offices in Texas, Norway and Sweden and moved engineers to other offices.

The announcement of the cuts sent a chill on Wall Street and throughout the industry, signaling that even Google was feeling the brunt of the weakening economy and the worst may be yet to come.

Google in January also said it would scale back recruitment efforts. The company said it would continue hiring, but at a reduced rate.

Google began by scaling back all its contracts with external contractors and vendors that were providing recruiting services. Then the company decided it needed deeper cuts and reduced the overall size of its recruiting business by 100 positions.

Google said the job cuts are a result of the company’s fast growth in a short period of time. Since 2001, Google has acquired 53 companies. While most of its growth was between 2005 and 2007, with 36 acquisitions, the company continued to acquire businesses in 2008, despite the ailing economy. Companies acquired in 2008 were Omnisio, an online video company, and Tatter and Company, a blogging-software company.

Making Mistakes

"When companies grow that quickly, it’s almost impossible to get everything right — and we certainly…

Source