> Are we actually running out of addresses

We ran out a long time ago:

    IANA Unallocated Address Pool Exhaustion:
                03-Feb-2011

    Projected RIR Address Pool Exhaustion Dates:
      RIR       Projected Exhaustion Date  Remaining Addr in RIR Pool (/8s)
      APNIC:    19-Apr-2011 (actual)       0.1946
      RIPE NCC: 14-Sep-2012 (actual)       0.1289
      LACNIC:   10-Jun-2014 (actual)       0.0351
      ARIN:     24 Sep-2015 (actual)       0.0002
      AFRINIC:  08-Feb-2020                0.2940

http://www.potaroo.net/tools/ipv4/index.html

> Are we actually running out of addresses or is this a money grab kinda thing?

We "ran out" some time ago. Of course, IP addresses don't get used up, so this can be defined different ways. It's no longer possible to get brand new (i.e. never used) IP addresses from the regional registries, so the only way to get a block is to buy it from another company.

Cloud companies have been buying up IPv4 space like crazy since the registries ran out. A couple years ago Amazon bought half of MIT's /8 block, and just a few weeks ago they bought a quarter of the /8 that was originally set aside for HAM radio.

So we'll never exactly "run out" per se. It's like real estate. They're not making more, but you can still buy it. It just gets more expensive. (And hopefully we eventually move to IPv6 which isn't so maddeningly restricted.)

And Google hasn't been buying up big blocks like that, so are probably running out, so are having to introduce a charge for them...

>And Google hasn't been buying up big blocks like that, so are probably running out

That seems like poor planning for a big cloud provider if true. IPV4 will unfortunately be around for a while