Is Google Cutting Down its ‘Moonshot’ Projects?

Google, which is now officially known as Alphabet, has long been a symbol of daring technological innovation. However, it turns out even this tech giant has to cut its most aspiring projects over the bottom line that starts with a negative sign.

Google has consistently adopted daring projects that otherwise would never have survived without deep pockets and no expectation of profitability. The commercial success of Android however, a free operating system for all kinds of mobile devices, has proven that untraditional schemes can transcend the conventional approaches to technology and business. But the tech giant has recently been seen to have bitten off more than it can chew, raising concerns among shareholders.

Alphabet's most innovative work is internally referred to as "moonshot projects." The company's financial reports, though, sum those projects as "other bets," attempting to soothe investor fears, according to CBS News. A psychological phrase to smoothe over financial truths, the "other bets" section reportedly lost about $865 million in the three months that ended September 2016. The company does not break down this section, so it is impossible to examine details.

According to media reports, Google is systematically killing its moonshot projects, which include an expensive initiative to provide high-speed internet to rural and remote areas of the world. Initially, that project, codenamed Titan, was supposed to create a network of solar-powered drones wirelessly broadcasting internet. The drone, however, turned out to be about the size of a Boeing 747, and crashed on its first flight in 2015. Interestingly, Titan's closest competitor, a drone named Aquila, met the same fate in 2016. Google scrapped Titan, in favor of Project Loon, intended to provide internet via a network of high-altitude balloons.

Another scrapped project was Ara, an initiative to create a mobile phone with interchangeable parts, an idea first developed by Motorola and intended to reduce global electronic waste, reported Gizmodo.

Alphabet has also offered robotics company Boston Dynamics for sale.

Additionally, the tech giant has "paused" a project called Fiber, meaning that Google will not now deploy super-fast internet access in new cities. It is not known whether Google will continue to support Fiber in the locations where it already exists.

What's left, according to media reports, are Google's Waymo, for its self-driving cars, a diabetes-diagnosing contact lens, and an aspiring project to extend human life and fight aging called Calico.

According to CBS News, the person responsible for the moves is Ruth Porat, Alphabet's chief financial officer, who joined the company in 2015. In response to growing concerns among shareholders, Porat introduced the policy to keep moonshot projects responsible for their economic profitability.

It is not known whether Google will adopt a fundamental change of policy to drop all of its moonshot projects. Possibly there will be more ground-breaking innovation, but for now, the reality is the bottom line.