True to its word, Google has unloaded the search engine marketing arm of Performics, the business unit it nabbed as part of its much-discussed DoubleClick acquisition.

Eric Schmidt and crew just agreed to sell the Chicago-based Performics SEM biz to Publicis Groupe, a French advertising outfit. The deal is expected to close sometime in the third quarter.

You see, the search marketing arm makes its money by rigging Google search results. And in a rare moment of sanity, Google has decided that hanging on to such a business is a bad idea.

"It’s clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business. Maintaining objectivity in both search and advertising is paramount to Google’s mission and core to the trust we ask from our users. For this reason, we plan to sell the Performics search marketing business to a third party," Google opined back in April, after the DoubleClick deal went through. "We believe this will allow us to maintain objectivity and the search marketing business to continue to grow and innovate and serve its customers." ®

Related stories

• Microsoft offloads digital ad agency for $530m (10 August 2009)
• 'Why not try nude female midgets?' says Microsoft Adcenter (20 August 2008)
• Google will eat itself in 202,345,117 years (13 August 2008)
• Google 'exploitation' protest takes to the streets (4 August 2008)
• Google's Blogger brands users as spammers (4 August 2008)
• Privacy watchdog hoists Google by its own petard (1 August 2008)
• Google: 'Even in the desert, privacy does not exist' (31 July 2008)
• Google plays musical chairs with affiliate ad networks (1 July 2008)