Well, who's Google's customers? People who buy ads, or free search users?
(an aside) One of the startups I worked for years ago, rented a huge office near San Jose, but decided to change directions and hire out of cheaper locales for a while. So we sublet the space out. For a good 2 years this space generated more revenue than the rest of the company and we joked that perhaps we should get into the real estate business. We even had two employees with real estate licenses in 3 states.
(an aside) One of the startups I worked for years ago, rented a huge office near San Jose, but decided to change directions and hire out of cheaper locales for a while. So we sublet the space out. For a good 2 years this space generated more revenue than the rest of the company and we joked that perhaps we should get into the real estate business. We even had two employees with real estate licenses in 3 states.