whatson - 1:12 am on Sep 17, 2011 (gmt 0)

But what about the economy of the search engine - it can make or break a business, as in e.g. there is perhaps enough search traffic for the keyword "mortgages" and related terms, to give enough business to support an online mortgage company, but would that mean that google could essentially feasibly start Google.com/loans, and offer their own loans? Suppressing all other loan companies and banks in the SERPs?
What if this is the long-long-term plan, to build up the brand enough to eventually offer all the services themselves, buying out whoever they need on the way?
Just a thought.