That's simplistic. Why would they go to the trouble of "cutting out the people who originated these ideas" if they are already at X Labs and the project was to continue?
Google regularly pays "average" employees quarter-million+ a year. It pays its higher-ups millions a year. It pays its superstars many many millions. This is an undisputable fact.
The idea that they'd cut someone out just to not pay them does not match this reality.
I'm not sure why you think politics has anything to do with these sorts of things.
What normally happens in these types of situations is the stakeholders from the company that has just seen the product get together and the boss asks a few questions, such as, "Do we need them to build this?" If nothing was put into place to protect the ip of the inventors, then the idea will frequently get stolen.
