Google cuts 200 sales & marketing staff

Google will lay off around 200 sales and marketing staff - the company's third round of job cuts this year.

The search company said  it had "over-invested in some areas in preparation for the growth trends we were experiencing at the time."

"Making changes of this kind is never easy - and we recognize that the recession makes the timing even more difficult for the Googlers concerned," said Google's VP of global sales and business development, Omid Kordestani.

"In some areas we've created overlapping organizations which not only duplicate effort but also complicate the decision-making process."

Google will give each person time to find another position at Google, as well as provide outplacement support, he said.

Google laid off 100 recruiters in January, and cut another 40 jobs last month when it aborted a project for selling radio adds.