Bits: Googles Adventures in Venture Capital

"Google has long invested in promising start-ups. So the news that the company was thinking about formalizing those efforts by creating a venture-capital arm, reported in The Wall Street Journal Thursday, was hardly surprising. A person familiar with Google’s plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss them, confirmed that the company had hired William Maris, a 33-year-old former entrepreneur and investor, to explore the idea of a venture arm. But the person said that at this point, the effort is embryonic, at best. There is no structure, no organization and no capital assigned to the project, and it is possible that Mr. Maris will end up working on other projects."