[dx034]

Google is a conglomerate like many before. At some point people will realise that it's better to split the company up and allow individual parts to focus more. Google's individual businesses often have very little overlap. But that's not only for Google. Amazon, for example, has no reason to keep AWS in the same company as ecommerce (except to subsidise businesses). Quite the opposite, keeping them apart would bring some clients back that don't want to support Amazon (such as Walmart). I'm not sure how long it will take but I'd be very surprised if they remain connected in the longer term.

Conglomerates are usually split up when they're under pressure. Tech companies haven't seen any crisis in the past decade, when the first one comes investors will probably push harder.

Interestingly, Facebook so far remains quite focused. The companies they bought (Whatsapp, Instagram) are very similar to their core product. That means they remain extremely reliant on the success of Facebook itself but also means there's not natural way of splitting up the company.

[yannis7]

On your point, might be worth mentioning that Facebook is starting to lose its focus with acquisitions such as Oculus Rift - which Zuck considers a major strategic move

[sjg007]

The next social network might be the virtual one.