Google to restructure 30,000-person ad sales unit

Google VP/Americas Platforms Sean Downey - who heads up Google ad sales to big customers in the Americas - this week announced plans to restructure his 30,000-person unit with the aim of further leveraging AI to facilitate and increase ad sales.

In 2022, Google introduced the "Performance Max" ad platform which automates ad buying across all the company's products including search, display, YouTube, Gmail and maps.

In 2023, Google has continued to ramp up the use of "generative AI" in its search advertising products.

In 3Q2023, Google's ad sales revenues reached $59.65 billion, the highest level in 9 quarters.

On news of the restructuring, GOOGL stock rose 1.2% in anticipation of possible job cuts and profit increases. Twice in 2023 Google has laid off significant numbers of employees - more than 5% of total workforce in aggregate.

So far, Google has simply confirmed that the ad sales unit will be restructured, without commenting on any possible layoffs.

If the ad team restructuring means that Google intends to move further toward total automation with less human involvement in ad sales, that could be disadvantageous to smaller advertisers who lack the deep pockets needed to experiment with and optimize AI assets.

Stay tuned for updates.