Google Cuts Back

Today brings the most definitive news yet that Google is planning to seriously scale back its ambitions during the recession. Information Week reports that while Google hasn't stopped hiring new people altogether, it's reduced the number of new employees it seeks to obtain. As a result, the company has laid off 100 recruiters and talent scouts. Vice President of People Operations Laszlo Bock wrote in a blog post that Google will try to find other jobs for the redundant recruiters inside Google, but he's not promising anything.

In addition, PC World notes that the company has decided to get rid of numerous services it hoped to develop into major revenue generators. Among the dead services: Google Video (which was made redundant by YouTube anyway), Twitter clone Jaiku, the Mashup Editor, the mobile social networking site Dodgeball, and Catalog Search. Engineering Vice President Vic Gundotra wrote in a blog post that this was merely an effort to "better focus our teams on products that have the most impact." But there's no denying that the days when Google had cash to burn on interesting yet risky projects are over.