Yeah I’ve seen this a lot. I really hope that isn’t the reason, cause if so it didn’t even work that well…

For me the decline began when Ruth took over from Patrick, and when the whole Alphabet-ization thing was (clumsily) executed. It was clear at the time they had no idea what they were doing. At all-hands Larry & Sergey couldn't answer basic questions about the strategy and how it would affect large parts of the company (I was in the 'Access' PA at the time -- the PA that ran Fiber, and launched Google WiFi, et -- and Sergey didn't even seem to get that it existed,). They had mentally checked out, and it was obvious.