I could be genuinely concerned about the future of Google at this point. A trivial comparison would be to the position of Microsoft in the 90s, but it doesn't q

I could be genuinely concerned about the future of Google at this point. A trivial comparison would be to the position of Microsoft in the 90s, but it doesn't quite hold up for the very simple reason Microsoft diversified their revenue streams, crucially into business back office processes, wildly successfully. Google's search dominance really is "all they have", and while it is something others would practically murder for it is now under assault from many angles such as Siri, Cortana, and most viciously Amazon and Facebook. Heaven forbid Apple really do launch a search engine because then it will be trouble. There is simply no way Google will be able to monetise Android devs more because iOS still has the lion's share of the valuable customers. More and more people are realising that the PR does not match reality (both potential talent pool and end users), and this is eroding the Fluffy Google Halo very fast. Since Page became CEO it feels like even the pretense of it being some sort of happy-go-lucky hackathon that occasionally produces a wonder business has disappeared, and let's face it, that image is precisely why they managed to slurp up so much talent in the first place. Once such people get enough money to feel secure then yes, they are going to jump.