WebProNews

Four months ago, Google announced that it wanted to get rid of DoubleClick's Performics arm; it just didn't seem right for the search engine giant to run a search marketing business.  Today, it turned out that Google's good buddy Publicis Groupe will be the buyer.

 Maurice Levy

CEOs Eric Schmidt and Maurice Levy met in January for informal discussions of a very vague nature.  One thing that came of their get-together was the unusual decision to embed executives in each other's companies, though, and now it's hard not to wonder if they didn't talk about acquisitions, as well.

"Performics will . . . bring widely-recognized talent and capabilities that can be embedded into the client teams inside Digitas, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia," Levy acknowledged in a statement this afternoon.

Unfortunately, he failed get into the details of any preexisting relationships, and didn't mention what sort of price tag was associated with Performics's talent and capabilities, either.

Ah, well.  This development at least eliminates a conflict of interest within Google, and doesn't seem to conclude the company's dealings with Publicis.  Schmidt stated, "We look forward to working with Performics as a partner."