I worked at a well known, non-Facebook social media platform during a turbulent time where my grant went down 50% and the company went through a botched acquisition offer. Thankfully I was still compensated well afterwards and it didn't affect me too much, but I do know colleagues who had to reconsider home purchasing decisions. Google's not impervious to market forces, and I obviously have no information as to how it will perform in the future, but in general it's probably safer than smaller companies. If you don't have much of a safety net, or have specific goals you'd like to meet in terms of compensation, picking Google may not be a bad idea. On the flip side, if you like the culture of working for a smaller company, are confident in your ability to switch jobs on your own terms, or are compensated primarily in cash it may be less attractive to join. It's really up to you, but the only general advice I can give you is that it never hurts to explore your options and make a decision once you have more information, such as actual offer letters. I work as a security engineer and as far as I am aware there are still plans to hire additional headcount in our team and many others, so you might as well give it a try.
