RitzBitz

Google Inc.,

  Performics, which uses technical tricks to highlight websites among non-advertising results of searches, threatens to break Google’s vow not to allow cash to influence the order of organic links featured in its results page. Performics also advises websites how to spend their money on advertising at Google and other search engines, another area that could raise questions about the service’s objectivity, reports the AP.

  Google intends to hold on to another part of Performics that helps websites manage their advertising.

  Google is also reportedly preparing to eliminate about 300 jobs, according to a recent article in The New York Times. The article cited an unnamed person with direct knowledge of the upcoming cuts. Although Google has yet to respond to the report, Eric Schmidt, the company’s chief executive, acknowledged layoffs were possible in a note published when the DoubleClick deal closed, says the AP.