Possibly they came along with one of the numerous google acquisitions? It's not uncommon for companies to own a pile of relatively random domains registered by

Possibly they came along with one of the numerous google acquisitions? It's not uncommon for companies to own a pile of relatively random domains registered by early staff. It's generally seen as easier to just leave them be than sort out what has value and what doesn't.. and given google's size, 8000 odd domains is nothing.