• The New York Times, Wednesday, December 8, 2010 1:14 PM

Be they successful efforts or not, why does Google devote so much energy to acquisitions? Speed and efficiency, says Susan Wojcicki, SVP of product development at the search giant. Naturally. "It's hard to assemble a team and organize as quickly as you want in these situations," Wojcicki tells The New York Times. "Finding the right people, interviewing them and hiring them takes time.

Companies [and by that we assume she means Google] are willing to pay a premium to be in the market right now." Regarding Google's bid to buy mobile ad firm AdMob -- rather than build a comparable service internally -- Wojcicki explained: "You're buying people with expertise and learning about new markets." Meanwhile, regarding the local advertising market, Wojcicki told The Times: "It's a big opportunity, but the market is still nascent ... It's hard to know yet what will work." If the buyout reports were true, Google obviously believes that Groupon knows how to make it work.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »