Search giant Google has announced plans to sell off the Performics, the search engine marketing division of DoubleClick as part if its integration strategy.<\/p>\n
Google purchased DoubleClick last month for $3.1 billion and has now received regulatory approval for the acquisition.<\/p>\n
DoubleClick consists of two divisions; an affiliate marketing company and a search engine marketing business which provides advertising and SEO services.<\/p>\n
In a statement Google said the latter, called Performics, was to be sold off in order to avoid a conflict of interest and allow the search engine to maintain its objectivity in both search and advertising.<\/p>\n
“It’s clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business,” said Tom Phillips, Google’s director of DoubleClick integration.<\/p>\n
He confirmed that the search engine had received “preliminary interest” in the Performics division from a number of its existing partners.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile there are reports that Google may be in talks with eBay to buy the VoIP service Skype or enter into a joint ownership agreement with the online auction site.<\/p>\n