Faced with economic kryptonite, even Google withers.

The company on Thursday said that it plans to cut about 200 marketing positions around the globe.

"[T]oday we have informed Googlers that we plan to reduce the number of roles within our sales and marketing organizations by just under 200 globally," explained Omid Kordestani, senior VP of global sales and business development, in a blog post. "Making changes of this kind is never easy -- and we recognize that the recession makes the timing even more difficult for the Googlers concerned."

Kordestani said the company had considered various options but couldn't escape the need to restructure, which is to say let people go. He said that the company will give affected employees time to try to find another position at Google. As is typical in such situations, Google is offering outplacement support and severance pay.

Reports of impending Google layoffs surfaced in various media outlets earlier this month. Given the economic climate, however, it's hard to think of a company for which such reports would not be credible, whether based on information that's real or imagined.

In January, Google cut 100 recruiting jobs, owing to the decreased need for hiring. That month, it also said that it would end six services -- Dodgeball, Google Catalog Search, Google Mashup Editor, Google Notebook, Jaiku, and the ability to upload to Google Video -- and close three offices -- in Austin, Texas; Trondheim, Norway; and Lulea, Sweden.

The office closure affected about 70 engineers, who could keep their jobs if they moved. Google has not disclosed whether any of the affected engineers chose not to move.

Last April, Google laid off about 300 DoubleClick employees as the acquired ad company was integrated.

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