> I am curious why google dabbles in all these strange projects removed from their core business, which seems to be organizing the worlds information and making

> I am curious why google dabbles in all these strange projects removed from their core business, which seems to be organizing the worlds information and making some money off that. http://adage.com/article/digital/google-profit-misses-estimates-search-ad-prices-decline/292678/ http://adage.com/article/digital/google-profit-misses-estima... > Google hasn't posted an annual increase in the average cost-per-click since the third quarter of 2011. It hasn't posted a quarterly boost since the second quarter of that year. Both streaks remain intact. Their per-click margins aren't going up and there is a limit to what they can do in that situation to grow net revenue. So they are looking for new growth markets since the margins on their core business aren't really going to change substantially with new investment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_driverless_car http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_driverless_car Throwing small amounts of money at things like driverless cars is something they can control and will likely give them the first mover advantage in a new market. They take over and become the "Microsoft of Driverless Cars" and they've got a huuuuuuuuuuuge new profit center. If not, they blew through a bit of cash. They have plenty of cash.