Big company buys small company, dismembers it into little pieces controlled by managers who weren't fans of the acquisition and don't respect it -- it's an old story. The founder of the acquiree quits in frustration, etc. etc.
As for Zagat, Tim told us he wanted a secure job for his people after he was gone. The jury is out on that one.
As for Google: 'splain me why it wasn't just $150M down the drain? Minus the undisclosed amount:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zagat
On March 6, 2018, Google sold the company to restaurant discovery platform The Infatuation for an undisclosed amount
What does this mean?
In the evolution of popular tastes, being a foodie was not limited to a rarified minority who liked artisanal food.
In other words, dining out and reading about it had become a mainstream activity.
Watch the confusion.
Not to mention: I was there when she stood up and told us how she'd made the acquisition. I don't know who your information comes from, but stop listening to them.
"On September 8, 2011, the company was acquired by Google for more than $150 million, the 10th largest acquisition by Google as of that date, at the championing of Marissa Mayer, its Vice President of Local, Maps, and Location Services."
She introduced Tim and Nina and took full credit for it. If your point is that she must have gotten the OK from Larry, Sergey, and Eric -- no argument. Any big initiative has some champion, who depends on top management approval. That doesn't mean that the CEO is personally the driver of everything.
It would not have happened had she not pushed it. If you can't accept that, then we'll just have to call this discussion Done. I was there; you weren't.
AOL-Time-Warner (1998) and then AOL-Time-Warner-Netscape (2001) spring to mind. Although those were all pre-Enron, pre-SarbOx valuations.