[sterling]

I'm sorry, but this is not "publicly clarifying" anything. This new is huge. My guess at the real reason is this: Google created and continues to dominate the global market for low-priced ads - but it isn't doing enough to retain that dominance by either innovating in search, developing content networks (like Facebook or Amazon) or by taking control of new platforms (which is hard to do).

[cyrus_]

They took control of the Youtube content network. They serve the ads for most of the world's biggest websites, and they have a solid foothold in mobile. I don't think Google is in any trouble.

They really just need to make a compelling social product that appeals to the masses, not just tech geeks.

I suspect Schmidt dropped the ball on buying Twitter at some point, and Buzz, Wave, etc. were all duds. He's great at selling ads, so they've put him in charge of that while the cofounders work on future product development.