Given how much of a cash cow that is for Google, I think when that happens, things will spiral. I'm not sure what this spiral will look like -- it's different for each company -- but an example:

* Revenue goes down.

* Beancounters at Google can't continue to offer $500k compensation, especially when so much of that are RSUs.

* A lot of top engineers company-wide leave for greener pastures. Worse decisions get made company-wide.

* Google finds it needs more money, and starts milking its customers more effectively. Data privacy goes down. Pricing goes up. Etc.

* Customers start to leave for free offerings from vendors with leaner cost structures.

... and so on.

I think a little bit of this kicked off when the qualified executives left. Schmidt/Larry/Sergey were quite good.

Fundamentally, though, Google seems brittle right now. It has a massive cost structure, which leaves them vulnerable (the problem isn't salaries; it's headcount). It's too big to be nimble. And it's not nearly as competent as it used to be. Or as it's competitors. Amazon and Apple are both more competent and more nimble.