The search giant is cutting 200 sales and marketing jobs worldwide, including 15 in Australasia.

Google has confirmed that speculation in The Australian Financial Review this morning is correct.

Fifteen of the company’s 350 staff across Australia and New Zealand will lose their jobs.

Google’s office in Melbourne will be closed, and the number of staff in New Zealand (currently believed to be around eight) will be cut.

The company’s Kiwi ex-pat CFO Chris Liddell announced the software giant’s first ever round of lay-offs today as it braces for lower revenue and profit. Microsoft New Zealand is spared, with no local lay-offs amid the global purge.

The cuts will take place over the next 18 months, and if the 5000 figure is reached will represent close to 5% of Microsoft’s 91,000-strong global workforce. 1400 cuts will be immediate.