Google Reader _was_ monetized

"it's mostly impossible to monetize via advertising (not unlike RSS)"

Google Reader /was/ monetized. A key step to getting rid of Reader was to put engineering time into removing the advertising from Reader, so that its contribution to Google's bottom line would vanish and its termination could be justified as a necessary belt-tightening exercise.

We often read nonsense on LWN about how public corporations are "obliged" to do whatever makes the most profit. Google is an unusual case, but they make it clear how untrue that is. The way to make money was to kill off the me-too social network and keep Reader. But that did not suit the people who actually make the decisions, so that's not what happened. Shareholders can yell and scream and stamp their feet, but they never use their power to actually do anything, so they're irrelevant.

The biggest system-wide scandal is the paying of high salaries or even bonuses to directors who are ineffective. Shareholders are very angry about that. How angry? Well, not angry enough to actually vote those directors out and replace them. So everything continues as before.