Search News: Google Shifts Gears
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Written By Noah Mallin | March 26, 2009 | Share This
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Google announced today that they were cutting almost 200 employees in their sales and marketing ranks, out of more than 20,000 total employees organization-wide. However, some employees will be given the chance to relocate elsewhere inside the Google-verse.
We (and most others in the industry) have had a parade of Wall Street analysts asking when the other shoe would drop when it comes to Google’s earnings and this announcement would seem to play into the prevailing wisdom that the search giant is feeling the bite of the recession. Google is being fairly straightforward in recognizing, via their blog post, that, “In some areas we’ve created overlapping organizations which not only duplicate effort but also complicate the decision-making process. That makes our teams less effective and efficient than they should be. In addition, we over-invested in some areas in preparation for the growth trends we were experiencing at the time.”
This suggests some consolidation of forces and continuing recognition that the buying spree and free time projects that seemed pretty cool a few years ago are luxuries in a recession, as we’ve said. An example of why they might want to batten down the sales and marketing hatches is an interview from 2007 with then-Marketing VP David Lawee:
“David Lawee, vice-president of marketing for Google (GOOG ), admits he has the easiest job in marketing. It’s not that he doesn’t have to do any work, but Google’s brand has taken on such an aura that he says he doesn’t have to do much of the usual care, feeding, and policing of the brand—let alone run any television or print ads.”
Things are definitely different now and the aura ain’t what it used to be what with privacy and antitrust concerns. Sales too have been a relatively cushy gig – with Google’s share of the marketplace they could sit back and take in the interest rather than beating the bushes.
That being said, I’ve met some very talented people on Google’s sales team and we have already seen a new aggressiveness in pushing products and solutions that speaks to a company that’s shifting into a higher gear.
Still, the reaction to the latest news in some quarters both within the industry and from analysts has more to do with schadenfreude than any real evaluation of the facts. It’s possible that Google’s numbers this quarter, when they report them, will be down. I suspect however that what we will see is slower growth that still beats estimates. Of course this is just a guess, based on a gut feeling. In that, I have plenty of company.
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Topics: Advertising: Online, Google, Search: News |