Oh, my sainted aunt.

Google thought about buying the New York Times, according to Barron’s, which got it from somebody else’s interview with Ken Auletta, author of Google:

The End of the World as We Know It.

Reportedly the hands of Google co-founder Larry Page and CEO Eric Schmidt were stayed by the thought that the deal would “sabotage” Google’s status as a neutral source.

Auletta, who generally writes for the New Yorker, said the reason they were interested is the fact that “Google’s search engine depends on good information.”