That would mean Google could have made up to $45 million in profit on the sale, though its likely closer to a few million.Įarly this year Google shut down its photo editor Picnik and open sourced its Android stargazing app Google Sky Map. As Trimble called the acquisition of the product “immaterial”, and therefore less than 5% of its annual revenue, it couldn’t have paid more that $90 million for it. Analysts speculated that Google paid $45 million for SketchUp in 2006. So rather than sink it in the deadpool, Google sold it to someone that can actually put it to use - Trimble, a mapping, surveying, and navigation equipment company. It doesn’t fit with last year’s theme of inherently social product that could be tied to Google+, or this year’s plan to simplify everyone’s lives. It’s a relatively niche product for architects and the construction industry, game developers, and filmmakers. But it just didn’t fit with the direction Google is heading in. It had 30 million activations since joining Google as part of Software in March 2006. If it’s now willing to sell them instead, Google could streamline around the theme of making user’s lives more convenient, while making some money at the same time. The company frequently shuts down extraneous products, but that requires redistribution of their team members internally.

This could signal a sea change in how Larry Page executes his vision for a leaner, more focused Google. Google’s sale of a previously purchased arm of the company this morning, 3D modeling software SketchUp, to Trimble, is its first divestment in years, and according to sources the search giant made a profit, as it sold SketchUp for more than it bought it for back in 2006.

Sketch up google