> Google has declining CPC ... now they get fewer and fewer gains with the investments they do.
Keep in mind that the declining CPC is coupled with increased revenue, caused by the amount of ad inventory they're moving. So, your second statement is not supported by your first.
(disclaimer: googler, but not in ads or anything related)
That is correct, revenue is increasing, but that increase is coming through increases in ad inventory on the core sites, and paying for more traffic (aka Paid Distribution) as more and more people don't bother to switch off 'bing' or 'yahoo'[1] on two big platforms (Windows and Firefox).
There is a limit on how much traffic you can buy, there is a limit on how many ads you can put on your pages before those ads push people away. And when those work arounds lose their effectiveness (my guess is Q3/Q4 2016) then revenue will be flat year/year. If people decide that Google isn't a "Growth" stock, they will reprice their value based on current revenues rather than projected revenues, and call for the elimination of everything that cuts into profits. As the original article points out, there are many previous examples.
[1] Currently also Bing :-) but will no doubt change when the agreement expires.
Keep in mind that the declining CPC is coupled with increased revenue, caused by the amount of ad inventory they're moving. So, your second statement is not supported by your first.
(disclaimer: googler, but not in ads or anything related)