[deong]

Exactly. It sounds to me like Google was possibly interested in purchasing the company, put out feelers, got a way-too-high asking price, and then lost interest.

I'm not sure I buy the whole "faked identities" thing, but even if it's true, I fail to see why it's such an outrage. It doesn't seem any more harmful than me telling them, "I need to check with my family" as a way of buying time to consider a relocation. People hide things or offer misdirections to improve their standing in a negotiation. That's just the way things work. It sounds like, at worst, the Google people were pretty straightforward once they'd gotten past the initial information gathering bit.

[gress]

Why would you feel the need to lie and say 'I need to check with my family', rather than just tell the truth with something like 'I need time to consider whether that suits me."?