Google bets on low-profile businesses, from software to retail and payment, as it seeks to expand and diversify - The Boston Globe

Timely snapshot -- see the article for details 

When Google Inc. snatched up the video-sharing website YouTube for $1.65 billion last fall, it was the most conspicuous move in the company's strategy to find new ways to monetize the Internet.

But behind the curtains at the Googleplex, the company's Silicon Valley headquarters, Google has been placing lower-profile bets on other businesses, from software to retail shopping and payment to brokering ads for other media.

Google bets on low-profile businesses, from software to retail and payment, as it seeks to expand and diversify - The Boston Globe