[donaldc]

Essentially, the article says that the market for search ads is starting to mature, and that the growth of this market is slowing.

This is when Google should begin paying out the excess cash it has to shareholders, as dividends and stock buybacks. That's why stockholders ultimately invested in the company: to get more money back.

But, many companies seem to think that they need to expand forever, so I'd be somewhat surprised if Google actually started paying out its surplus cash anytime soon. Though, as with the many attempts of Microsoft to move beyond desktop software, I don't see Google finding an alternate source of profit anywhere near as large as search ads.