Advertising was the cash cow that fueled everything else but they now have several business units that stand on their own financially. The day is rapidly approaching where they will not need the ad revenue anymore.
People were afraid of the power that Microsoft obtained in the 1990s. Google will soon be ten times as big as Microsoft ever was. It will get interesting.
Keep an eye on Apple as well. Another company with almost unlimited reserves of cash...
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Some financial experts say that google and fb have been taking government monies for information and access, that in a sense both are arms of the governments.
The govt was paying for fuel for the google jet