Google Ad Manager outage costs big websites ad sales

FILE PHOTO: A sign is pictured outside a Google office near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California, U.S., May 8, 2019. REUTERS/Paresh Dave/File Photo

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - A Google service relied upon by many large websites to sell and display ads was down for about three hours Thursday, denying major news publishers revenue during the crucial holiday period, two sources familiar with the matter said.

"The issue with Google Ad Manager has been resolved and ad serving has now been restored for the affected users,” Google said in a tweet on Thursday evening. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”