Monopoly rents happen at the expense of other economic participants. For every tombstone on that page, I wonder how many mom & pop diners died due to CAC math.

Yeah, not sure if it would be better if Google put all those people to work on their main products like most other companies. Google maintains their ability to launch new products by those constant launches, they are like constant small exercises, sure they usually aren't new billion dollar products but at least they still know how to launch new products fast unlike many other companies.

A company probably should try new things if they have enough extra money. A company definitely shouldn't develop a reputation for abandoning every new thing they try shortly after launch. Why would any company risk depending on a new Google offering for something they actually care about?