The great thing about hypotheticals is we can make them without a basis in reality. Your hypothetical regarding some Gmail leak is not really reasonable.
The fact is, many many Google services don't make money in and of themselves. But they add value to the broader ecosystem as a whole.
Whether Google wanted to shut their service down is their business, but the weird machinations that have been trotted out to justify (senior management time, legal and technical risk, reputational risk) are really bizarre when taken within the broader context of how Google does and should operate.
It's not hypothetical. It's a real risk. You know, like a possible outcome has a certain estimated probability of occurring.
Risk analysis is one of the things companies do when they make decisions.
No-one is justifying here. This is just a conjecture about why it's in their interest to shut it down, contrary to impassioned arguments about how much money they could make to keep it. It's not a "justification" because no moral dimension has been mentioned here.
The fact is, many many Google services don't make money in and of themselves. But they add value to the broader ecosystem as a whole.
Whether Google wanted to shut their service down is their business, but the weird machinations that have been trotted out to justify (senior management time, legal and technical risk, reputational risk) are really bizarre when taken within the broader context of how Google does and should operate.