FuckedCompany creator Philip "Pud" Kaplan's ad network, AdBrite, just fired its VP of Sales Jim Benton. In mid-August, a tipster told us it would happen. Now the same source tells us "free lunches are next on the chop." Engineering VP Mike Reaves and HR chief Melissa Vernon left the company earlier this year. Why's AdBrite in so much trouble? Because there are too many ad networks — about 300 — and not enough business to go around.Internet advertising rose 20 percent in the second quarter, but a disproportionate amount of those gains went to Google search, which is like a more profitable version of the Yellow Pages — companies have to pay each time customers look them up. Ad networks like AdBrite primarily sell display advertising, which might not seem nearly so crucial during tough economic time — and the text ads they do sell don't have Google's massive data-crunching algorithms behind them. (Photo by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us)