Google is making plans to cut 200 sales and marketing jobs — half of which are based in North America, reports Advertising Age, which labeled it the biggest round of layoffs in the firm's history.

Early this year Google announced it would discharge a "substantial number" of temporary and contract workers. Figures were not provided, but it reportedly cut 100 recruiters at the time; last month it dismissed another 40 staffers with the shuttering of its dormant radio ad sales business.

In a blog post titled "Changes to our sales and marketing organizations," Google SVP Omid Kordestani of Global Sales and Business Development wrote:

When companies grow [as quickly as Google did] it's almost impossible to get everything right—and we certainly didn't. In some areas we've created overlapping organizations which not only duplicate effort but also complicate the decision-making process. That makes our teams less effective and efficient than they should be.

Kordestani lamented that making the decision to cut 200 employees worldwide was not easy, but pointed out it would "improve [Google's] effectiveness and efficiency as a business."

"We will give each person time to try and find another position at Google, as well as outplacement support, and provide severance packages for those who leave the company," he took pains to add.

Google's staff ballooned from 10,674 at the end of 2006 to 22,222 at 2008's end.

Hedging the company's bets in terms of outlook, CEO Eric Schmidt told Mary Meeker of Morgan Stanley that "The next few quarters are going to be very, very tough."