Google offers 'voluntary exit' to all US platforms and devices employees

Does this mean Google is exiting the phone business?

I once worked at a BIGCORP. The newly appointed CFO said the new philosophy was that if a division which was its own corporate entity was not number one or two in its industry, it was best to sell and exit. They did this for many years and wound up selling everything. I would argue this is a net negative for society and consumers who have less choice less competition and higher prices.

In 2015 YouTube was separated from Google with both owned by Alphabet. My guess is that Sergey Brin couldn’t care less if both companies went out of business. All they care is ROI.

> In 2015 YouTube was separated from Google with both owned by Alphabet.

That is incorrect. When Alphabet was introduced YouTube remined part of Google, and still is.

You are correct. YouTube is owned by Google.

That is just a dumb as hell CFO. That philosophy is based on absolutely nothing.

If you’re “second best” as a product then you need to position yourself as being better at something that the market leader isn’t doing as well.

Fyi a couple of years ago Google's management's internal battle cry leaked in which they said that if Google Cloud won't become number 1 (so beating Amazon and MS) in 2-3 years, they will close the whole thing.

Never trust Google with anything, if don't want it to be inexplicably and suddenly closed.

Right. This is related to the observation that, for companies with a big product line, maybe 20% of the products produce 80% of the profit. So cut the losing 80% of the products, right? Margins get better, and the company becomes smaller and more efficient. Profits increase.

A few iterations of this, and you're down to a tiny but profitable product line. Now you're irrelevant to the larger market and someone with a bigger product line can knock you off by under-pricing their alternatives to your few products.

Stellantis, which owns Chrysler, Jeep, Fiat, and a bunch of other minor brands, did this. There is now only one Chrysler product, a mini-van.[1] Profits down. Stellantis cars sitting on dealer lots for more than a year. Angry letter to CEO signed by most dealers. CEO fired.

[1] https://www.chrysler.com/all-vehicles.html