Research is a pursuit Page cherishes, and in which Google invests vast sums—last year it spent nearly $12.5 billion on R&D and on projects that it won’t foreseeably monetize. The company has built a revolving front door through which superstar professors regularly cycle, joining the company’s most audacious ventures. If there’s tension between profit and the pursuit of scientific purity, Page will make a big show of choosing the path of purity. That is, of course, a source of Google’s success over the years.
