RELENTLESS GOOGLE

RELENTLESS GOOGLE

Even as Google pares some of its own operations, it's constantly coming up with new ones. On Mar. 31 the search king launched a venture capital fund for early-stage startups in everything from the consumer Internet to clean tech and health care. Unlike most corporate venture arms, Google Ventures will pick companies based on its assessment of potential returns, not on whether they mesh with existing businesses. The outfit expects to invest up to $100 million in its first year. Meanwhile, Google opened a music download site in China on Mar. 30 that will allow users to download licensed music for free from more than 140 labels, including the world's biggest. That should help it compete with Baidu, the dominant search engine in China, whose users frequently download pirated tunes.

See "Google Forms Venture Group to Find 'Next Big Thing' " businessweek.com/magazine