Eric Schmidt tells the New York Times that Google's investment in 23 and Me was "all done by the book beyond belief." (Memory jog: 23 and Me is the embryonic genetic information service founded by Anne Wojcicki, new wife of one of Google's founders, in which the search engine has invested $3.9m.) No doubt Sergey Brin, who married Wojcicki earlier this month in the Bahamas, did formally recuse himself from the decision, as Schmidt claims. But that's meaningless: neither Google execs, nor its audit committee, should have been asked to approve such a deal so close to the heart of one of its largest shareholders; and Schmidt, at least, should have been aware that the mere appearance of impropriety, of a public company run as a personal fiefdom, is damaging enough. Tacky.In lighter news, the Times snagged an interview with the Google bride's mother: we learn, importantly, that, at the sandbar ceremony, the bridegroom wore a black swimsuit, and the bride emerged from the water in white.
