Google is laying off about 300 DoubleClick employees and is selling its Performics’ search-engine marketing business, it was announced Thursday.
Google acquired DoubleClick for $3.2 billion last month to bolster its online ad offerings. It has since divided Performics into a search-marketing services unit and an affiliate marketing unit.
Search-marketing services was considered to be a conflict of interest.
“It’s clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business,” said Google’s director, DoubleClick integration, Tom Phillips, in a statement. “Maintaining objectivity in both search and advertising is paramount to Google’s mission and core to the trust we ask from our users.”
The company said it has yet to identify a buyer, but has received some interest from unspecified suitors.