Well that was an interesting read.<p>Some things that stood out to me, changing depreciation rules to “magically” generate $770M in revenue. Traffic acquisition costs down for the quarter (I think this is the first time in like 10 years it has gone down). And a stock buyback which does the “let’s pretend our stock is going up” trick. (IBM has been a master of this for years).<p>None of it looked very hopeful for the future of Alphabet. A friend of mine who was in the “sudden layoff of entire projects” wave is starting to feel better about having gotten out with a severance package. I told them (as a survivor of a couple of layoffs back in the dot.com days) that there are pluses and minuses to being picked or being passed over. But <i>everyone</i> gets reminded to polish up their resume and start looking at the alternatives. If you still work there, keep an eye on the people you know are the ones who “get things done” as they will often be the first to leave as it is easier for them. Folks who have moved from cancelled project to cancelled project will find it harder as interviewers will be unconsciously biased against applicants who have never worked on a successful project/product.<p>Take heart though, when “gorilla/monster/dominant” technology companies die, their former employees fertilize the field of new ideas and, at least as I’ve observered over the last 40 years, new greatness emerges.