It's exaggerated/false reporting. In 2015 Google was in the process of cleaning up its finances. The sale of Boston Dynamics really came from BD executives and Google execs clashing over the future direction of the company where one party wanted to continue from a more pure R&D direction, while the other wanted a path to revenue/profitability in < 5 years. Not having come to an agreement Google/Alphabet put up BD for sale.