Google’s First Dead Loss Product Ever :But Sold on Profit

Google's SkechUp is actually Google’s first divestment ever, according to two sources, and we’re hearing the search giant made a profit, as it sold SketchUp for more than it bought it for back in 2006.

It wasn’t that SketchUp wasn’t working. It had 30 million activations since joining Google as part of Last Software in March 2006. But it just didn’t fit with the direction Google is heading in. It’s a relatively nice product for architects and the construction industry, game developers, and film makers. It doesn’t fit with Google+ that is last year launched, or this years plan to simplify everyone’s lives.

This could signal a sea change in how Larry Page executes his vision for a leaner, more focused Google. The company frequently shuts down extraneous products, but that requires redistribution of their team members internally. If it’s now willing to sell them instead, Google could streamline around the theme of making user’ lives more convenient, while making some money at the same time

So rather than sink it in the deadpool, Google sold it to someone that can actually use Trimble, a mapping, surveying, and navigation equipment company. Analysts speculated that Google paid $45 million for SketchUp in 2006. 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. That would mean Google could have made up to $45 million in profit on the sale, though its likely closer to a few million.