I've heard before that Google has never created a useful product, period - all the Google products that are worth using - Android, Gmail, formerly Search, ads (for advertisers), Reader - were acquisitions.
I think it goes to my earlier point that they're so massive now that they need to ship huge bets to move the needle even a little bit. Gmail and Search both are valid, but to an earlier point are now decades old. Both of these businesses have used inorganic growth for their needle movers - the acquisitions that changed the game for them: Meta was Whatsapp and Instagram; Google was Youtube and DoubleClick.
Search isn't profitable. Their ad business is, and both of those together are their original product. What big successes have they built since?
Gmail is widely used, but is it profitable? Last I checked, their office suite and cloud business were rolled into a single item in their 10K, so it was impossible to tell.
1. I was responding to parent who said all of these products were acquisitions.
2. Big difference between not being profitable and not being able to tell if it is profitable because they do not split their earnings finely. My guess is Pixel is profitable
