I agree that a lot of tech companies have a much larger staff than they need (especially the mid sized ones) and I agree that Google in particular seems to suff

I agree that a lot of tech companies have a much larger staff than they need (especially the mid sized ones) and I agree that Google in particular seems to suffer from severe mismanagement, but this is kind of the best case when you see a company with high enough barriers to entry that they collect rents: they spend on R&D and other "wasteful" stuff. Part of the problem with the thought experiment of the perfect free market (infinite producers/consumers) is that margins are so razor thin that no one can do this kind of stuff, which can be enormously beneficial when well coordinated (see: postwar Japan) so you do want some of it to happen.