their money comes from ads. Of all the things you mentioned -
Maps I'm pretty sure is a loss leader or used for data for ads
Gmail as well
Android is platform to hit you with ads
Chrome/Chromeboooks also
GCP is actually a viable business, albeit in a very competitive market
self driving cars, research, quantum computers, none of those make money.
There is a perfect comparison to Facebook, and for that matter, MTV and the New York Times. They all make money by selling ads.
> To call Google an “advertising company” is disingenuous
It probably depends on one’s perspective. Their Q3’22 financials show that $54b of their $69b revenue for the quarter is advertising income. It is also listed first in their financials.
https://abc.xyz/investor/static/pdf/2022Q3_alphabet_earnings...
There’s no comparison to Facebook.