• The Associated Press, Wednesday, January 21, 2009 9:30 AM

Google is giving up on its two-year attempt to sell print ads for the ailing newspaper industry. The decision affects about 800 U.S. newspapers, up from the 50 publications that had initially signed up for the program.

Under the program, potential advertisers were allowed to bid online to fill unsold space in the participating print newspapers, leaving it up to publishers whether to accept the offers. But Google concluded that its online expertise wasn't paying off in print, prompting management to pull the plug on the newspaper program effective Feb. 28.

The retrenchment is part of a larger cost-cutting campaign at Google aimed at boosting profits as the recession eats away at the company's main business of selling online ads. Google also pledged to help newspaper publishers find other ways to make more money, presumably by driving more traffic to their Web sites and helping them sell more Internet ads.

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