Saying it’s streamlining its organization for better decision-making, Internet search and ad leader Google Inc. this week announced that it’s cutting about 200 workers in sales and marketing.

 

The Mountain View, California-based Internet giant says its teams haven’t been as effective and efficient as they should be because of overlapping duties.

 

According to a company blog post here by Omid Kordestani, senior vice president of global sales and business development, the company regrets having to make the cuts during an economic downturn.

 

“We did look at a number of different options but ultimately concluded that we had to restructure our organizations in order to improve our effectiveness and efficiency as a business,” Kordestani said. “We will give each person time to try and find another position at Google (News - Alert), as well as outplacement support, and provide severance packages for those who leave the company.”

 

The news comes about two months after Google announced plans to lay off 100 recruiters and then reported that quarterly net income and earnings per share fell 70 percent sequentially in the three-month period that ended Dec. 31.

 

Though officials at Google said in January revenues of $5.7 billion for the quarter represent an 18 percent increase year-over-year and 3 percent sequentially, net income for the fourth quarter fell to $382 million from $1.29 billion the prior three months, and earnings per share fell from $4.06 to $1.21.

 

According to the company’s chief executive officer, Eric Schmidt (News - Alert), Google performed “well” in the quarter, despite an increasingly difficult economic environment.

 

“Search query growth was strong, revenues were up in most verticals, and we successfully contained costs,” said Schmidt. “It’s unclear how long the global downturn will last, but our focus remains on the long term, and we’ll continue to invest in Google’s core search and ads business as well as in strategic growth areas such as display, mobile, and enterprise.”

 

This week’s news doesn’t come as a total surprise.

 

Even so, as TMCnet reported, January’s layoffs followed an announcement that Google had no plans to let its full-time people go. The decision regarding the contract workers was said by some to show Google’s vulnerability during a global economic slowdown.

 

The reports of Google’s cutting back on contracts also came after the company announced that it’s pulling out of virtual world business.

 

Kordestani said in this week’s blog post that he was grateful for the company’s workers.

 

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone affected for all they have contributed to Google,” he said.