Google CEO Eric Schmidt used the opening moments of a New York City press conference to reinforce a message he’s been delivering for several weeks: The worst is over, things are looking up, and Google is spending accordingly.
Google is about to flip the switch on its long-awaited Ad Exchange.
The search giant will reportedly open up its AdX service, which is supposed to bring together ad buyers and sellers the same way a stock market does, within the next two weeks. AdX isn’t a surprise, but it is a big deal.
Google employs about 20,000 people, and I don’t expect to write a story every time one leaves. That said, here’s another one: Michael Rubenstein, who ran DoubleClick’s Ad Exchange unit and who was overseeing the same project after Google bought his old employer, has left “to pursue another opportunity.”
Another Google sales exec has left the building: Andrew Rutledge, who has been running publisher sales for Google’s DoubleClick unit for the last year, has taken the same job at PubMatic, an ad optimization start-up.
Microsoft acquired digital ad agency Razorfish two years ago as part of its $6 billion purchase of parent company aQuantive. The industry has been waiting for Redmond to part ways with the ad shop since then. Now it’s formally on the block: Microsoft has reportedly hired Morgan Stanley to broker a deal.
Doesn’t anybody want to sell ads for the world’s biggest media company anymore? David Rosenblatt, the former CEO of DoubleClick, who joined Google when it acquired his company last year, is leaving May 15. A person familiar with Rosenblatt’s plans says he doesn’t have a job lined up and plans to take the summer off. He’s the fourth top ad sales executive at Google to step down since March.
Yes, investors are still betting on Web video. Just not in the way they used to: FreeWheel, one of the buzzier online video start-ups you’ve never heard of, has raised a $12 million C round from Battery Ventures, which had provided financing for the company’s first two rounds, and Foundation Capital.
Web video publishers are still trying to get their heads around their existing sites, which attract plenty of eyeballs but not much in the way of ad dollars. But at some point they’re going to have to figure out what will happen as video moves from the PC to the phone.
Here’s one small step in that evolution: Joost, the once-hyped video site, is going to start selling ads for stuff it shows via its iPhone app. Doing the heavy lifting will be FreeWheel, a well-regarded start-up that already handles ad-serving for some of the Web’s biggest video players.
Eric Schmidt says he’s going to pick an internal candidate to replace Tim Armstrong, the Google sales star who’s leaving to run AOL. And lot of people say David Rosenblatt, the former DoubleClick CEO who started working for Google a year ago after the acquisition, is his best choice.
Yet another sign that even mighty Google feels unnerved by the slowdown: A “Hey! Don’t Forget About Us!” note sent out to its AdSense customers.
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »
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