There was a time when Google was simply a search engine, slugging it out with Yahoo for the loyalty of internet clickers. There was a time, too, when Google’s shares were worth less than $100, a level that, when it was breached 13 years ago, prompted worries that the group was overvalued and little more than a flaky dotcom stock.
Look at Google now. The battle with Yahoo is long over and the group’s tentacles stretch far and wide. It owns Gmail and the Youtube video-sharing service and makes the Android mobile operating system. It has a venture capital business, invests in life sciences and provides broadband services and internet connections to rural American homes. Through its Waymo subsidiary it is developing autonomous cars and,