Also want to add to the original comment that google does have a lot of cash and my understanding is that they hire anyone who meets their high standards. So what is the downside to stepping outside of their core competencies and buying real estate? Put another way ... what else are they going to do with that money?
"organize the world's information" - what information is being organized?
"and make it universally accessible" - are they going to make the paperclips universally accessible?
"and useful" - I'm sure paperclips are useful without Google owning them :)
Google really shouldn’t ever buy paperclips and the ones they bought in the past were clearly wrongheaded investments.