>> But Google has demonstrated over the years that they're willing to sacrifice their short-term gains to maximize their long-term gains.

> How have they demonstrated that? Could you elaborate?

Before Google, web search results were rotten. Advertisers could push their sites onto the front page, and paid ads were indistinguishable from organic results.

Google's innovation was to deliver pure search results with the highest relevance, with zero influence from advertisers. Ads were separate and labeled as such.

By sacrificing near-term ad revenue, Google built trust with users, and won search in the long-term.

Other examples:

Google could have kept Android closed and charged for licenses. But by open-sourcing it and allowing competitors to use it, they sacrificed short-term license revenue to build a much larger ecosystem.

Google capitulated to government demands that they censor search results in China. But then they reversed course, exited mainland China, and sacrificed revenue from that massive market. Long-term, active censorship would damage Google's reputation.