Google Not Immune to the Economy, Trimming Down

For many, Google epitomizes the successful modern company, but like nearly every sector in the economy, they are being forced to slim down under the rippling effects of the recession.  The first step was to reduce the recruiting organization by 100 positions and slowly ratchet down new hires.  The next step was to close down products that didn’t make economic sense for Google to hold onto.

The microblogging service Jaiku, which Google acquired for a reported $12 million, will be shutting down along with Dodgeball, the mobile social networking site.  Google Catalog Search, another service on the chopping block, will be shutting down after eight years of honing their optical character recognition software.  Unsurprisingly, Google Video will be halting new uploads in favor of the much more profitable and popular YouTube.  The bookmarking service Google Notebook will be closing its doors due to many similar products like Google Bookmarks and SearchWiki.  For many these closures make perfect economic sense as these services haven’t given the company much revenue and have witnessed continuously decreasing traffic.  The new CFO of Google, Patrick Pichette, has explicitly stated that he is pursuing a plan to “feed the winners,” and “starve the losers.”  Google remains an anomaly in this economy and we’re curious to see if will be forced to cut more of their beloved products.

[via Silicon Alley Insider]