‘Grandpa Google’ is in danger of becoming irrelevant to younger generations, company exec testifies at antitrust trial

• Google leaders fear the search engine could become irrelevant to youth, a company exec testified.
• Senior VP Prabhakar Raghavan said Google is beset by rivals and youth call it “Grandpa Google.”
• The company is defending itself in a landmark antitrust case brought by the US government.

WASHINGTON – A top Google executive testified Thursday that the company’s success is precarious and said its leadership fears their product could slide into irrelevance with younger internet users.

Prabhakar Raghavan, Google’s senior vice president for knowledge and information products, testified for the tech giant as it defends itself in the biggest antitrust trial in the last 25 years. The government has accused the company of illegally thwarting competitors from making inroads against its ubiquitous search engine.