If they did this 15 year ago, I bet google reader would still be actively maintained today. More innovation is possible when there are smaller companies working on fewer things. Yes there are economies of scale with large entities, but you then run up against the economy of shareholder attention if your little effort within the larger organization is not the current golden child of the day. When you work at a smaller company, that little effort is the entire company's product. It has to work and get better to succeed. It can't be forgotten about and left to languish like so many potentially great products and technologies that are chained to some large org today.