To give an example of that - my friend runs a one-man internet shop, selling niche items. His monthly profit is around (an equivalent of) $1-2k, while his Googl

To give an example of that - my friend runs a one-man internet shop, selling niche items. His monthly profit is around (an equivalent of) $1-2k, while his Google invoice is $7k$-10k. So, essentially most of the fruits of his labor go to Google. And, according to him, if he tried spending less on advertising, he'd just vanish from the face of the Internet and customers would buy at his competitors.