Before Google Inc. announced a week ago it would drop its Print Ads programme, British start-up firm MediaEquals had "approached" the online giant, wanting to take the project over, The Associated Press reported Monday.

The Print Ads project, to be shuttered by Google Feb. 28, launched in November 2006 with 50 newspaper partners, and has grown to include more than 800 newspapers in the United States. Print Ads Director Spencer Spinnell announced that Google had "hoped that Print Ads would create a new revenue stream for newspapers and produce more relevant advertising for consumers, the product has not created the impact that we - or our partners - wanted."

London-based MediaEquals has created an online automated system for bidding on print advertising space in newspapers and magazines, the AP reported in an article posted by The London Free Press.

Just because Google is closing Print Ads "does not mean that technology cannot deliver the efficiencies that the press industry so desperately needs," MediaEquals stated, according to the AP.