ermmm...that's just the affiliate program arm (performics) of the larger company DoubleClick which they acquired for 3 billy...not sure what you mean by failure, their aim is to catch up on display advertising/media buys and basically dominate any space where money changes hands for serving ads. once they do this they'll buy earth...
affiliate network rev is a very tiny goal for them right now...but yea they must be stopped...
See this
http://www.wickedfire.com/affiliate-marketing/56934-google-affiliate-network.html
I am one of the many affiliates they have failed to pay. Long email chain (You can't find support # anywhere), 4 months later, still haven't paid. I gave up.