Google sells attention to advertisers via its distribution channels. Their search engine is certainly the most successful distribution channel, and they have (with somewhat less success) added other distribution channels such as AdSense, which is a partnership distribution model.
Whereas NYT is obligated to invest in journalism to generate distribution, Google invests in useful tools. It appears that investing in useful tools is a more efficient way of generating distribution than quality journalism, at least for the time being.
Search is just one vehicle (among several) for delivering targeted ads. Heck, they make about as much money selling ads on non-Google sites through AdSense as they do selling ads on their own search results pages.