I feel a much stronger urge to blame the c-suite. Ultimately it is so much simpler. Google is a growth stock. It's value isn't in revenue. It isn't even in the

I feel a much stronger urge to blame the c-suite. Ultimately it is so much simpler. Google is a growth stock. It's value isn't in revenue. It isn't even in the YoY growth. The value is in the second derivative of revenue. It's value is predicated on the company staying on the "fun and super linear growth" part of the sigmoid growth curve. The growth is changing inflection and they have to do everything they can to keep the illusion that it isn't alive because once Google stops accelerating the stock will crash and it will "fail". So the c-suite could manage the transition from a growth stock to a dividend stock, or they could keep chopping off bits to keep the old dream alive for one more quarter.