Is it the end of an era for Google? Maybe, maybe not.

For a long time, Google seemed invincible. The company was essentially the window to the internet. A window like no other. A business like no other. So far ahead of everything else that it didn't matter what anyone did - Google won.

But how could Google become such a giant?

While the history of Google's rise and why Microsoft couldn't stop it from becoming a threat is frankly beyond the scope of this article (though you could read 'The Google Story' and 'Idea Man' as definitive books on the subject), the short version is that by the time Google came out, Microsoft was already downed by a lot of antitrust cases and litigations. It had just come out of tough senate hearings which suggested that the company could be "broken up" to avoid a monopoly-like scenario.

So as ruthless Microsoft and Bill Gates were, they couldn't crush Google through uncompetitive means (despite having the intentions, and the muscle), because the market sentiment at the time simply didn't allow it.

Google got the window it needed. And then it flew. Basically unscathed.

The company started in 1998. Launched Adwords in 2000. And since then has done revenues of over $2.27 Trillion. $2.27T in sales, with over $650B in net profits. All in the last 25 years. This is an unfathomable amount of money, made in an unbelievable way. About 60% Gross Margins, 30% Net. It's crazy to even imagine these numbers.

In the limited, legal way of doing things - Microsoft did try to bite Google. And while it didn't fail, it didn't succeed either. Bing did over $12B in revenues in FY24. But does anyone care about Bing? "Success" has a different meaning at that scale. Then Microsoft also tried with its browsers. Can't say they worked.

Meanwhile, Apple didn't even try; Pegasus didn't fly. Amazon worked well in its niche. And while Meta had big dreams, it found sense in sticking to its game. And so Google remained - the effective window to the internet. A perpetual motion machine. The goose that laid the golden eggs. Ek side se aalu daalo, doosri side se sona nikaalo. Magic.

But that's finally changing. After ChatGPT, Google search is becoming passé.

Q1 2025 traffic data showed a 3.3% overall drop in search volumes YoY, AI-generated “zero-click” overviews have reduced clickthroughs by 70–80%, hurting downstream traffic to publishers, Google searches in Safari declined for the first time in 22 years.. and so on. While these numbers can be refuted (by idiots), it's pretty clear where this is going. After 25 years, Microsoft has finally struck Google.

And this is special, because while Google grew as a giant and did a lot of things beyond search, its bread and butter pretty much remained - just search. Those $2.27T in lifetime revenues? About $1.6T came from search. Even in FY24, about 65% of Alphabet's entire $350B revenues came from Search, Adsense, et al. And they fetched about 81% of the total net.

But what happens now? With AI companies making browsers, too? End of an era for Google? Let's find out. Interesting times!

This is the first time Google has gotten a real fight.

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