“Google announced this afternoon that it would buy YouTube, the popular video-sharing Web site, for stock that it valued at $1.65 billion,” Andrew Ross Sorkin and Jeremy W. Peters report for The New York Times.
“Google beat out a number of other YouTube suitors, including Microsoft, Viacom, Yahoo and the News Corporation. By successfully negotiating the deal, Google has once again proved that it is the Internet’s dominant player,” Sorkin and Peters report. “Under the terms of the deal, YouTube will retain much of its identity and will keep its name and its office in San Bruno, Calif., more than 25 miles from Google’s headquarters in Mountain View.”
Sorkin and Peters report, “The acquisition of the privately held YouTube will enable Google to thrive in one area of the Internet where it has so far failed to gain footing. According to Hitwise, which monitors Web traffic, has the lion’s share of online video traffic. YouTube has a 46 percent share, MySpace has 23 percent and Google Video has 10 percent.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “obvious” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
WSJ: Google in talks to buy YouTube for $1.6 billion – October 06, 2006
Thank God Microsoft didn’t get it
*click throughs several Google ads*
Does anyone seriously think Google is completely daft
Google will make a TON of money from advertisers with You Tube
Another RC heard from.
YouTube isn’t worth that much, except potentially in name. Combine it with Google’s ad-selling approach, though, and this might be a winner.
Could the purchase cut into iTunes and Apple’s movie downloads? With these deals in the making, it wouldn’t take much to go the rest of the way. This article in the N.Z. Herald says: “YouTube’s deal with Universal was similar to an earlier deal with the Warner Music Group , in which the label will offer thousands of its videos to YouTube users as well as make songs available to be used in the site’s homemade videos.”
<snip>
“Within 30 minutes, other deals came pouring in: Google announced separate music video deals with Warner Music and Sony BMG. YouTube announced another music video deal, this time with Sony BMG, and a separate short-form video deal with US television network CBS Corp.”
Oh, and they are paying for the lead space that they can build on, not have to recreate/compete with from the ground up. Obviously, with Google video, from-the-ground-up video hasn’t been their strong suit.
another arse hear from
This is a brilliant Google move, they are the only company uniquely positioned to use the eyeballs that YouTube provides.
I’m not RC
Microsoft pulls Firewire support out of Vista!!!
http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/266
Firewire is on its way out of the mainstream. Many video cameras are USB2. iPod is USB2. Except for FW800, USB’s cheaper, isn’t it?
Oh, and Peterson smells like elderberries.
HEY!!! I’m CR!!!
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$1.65 Billion for a company that has yet to show any profit. So, Google should see a return on its investment in about, say… infinity years?
Okay, that was joke. I know Google will figure out a way to pull some revenue from YouTube. But just the same, are we back in the a crazy internet bubble again? God I hope not. I don’t think I can survive another bursting bubble recession.
Balmer’s panties are in a twist over this one for sure!
I’m dyslexic and you are all taking my identity!
Google has launched it’s own Mac blog!
http://www.techsmessage.com/2006/10/09/new-google-mac-blog/
I wonder how long it will be now before content providers (read: Hollywood and the major networks) will sue Google / youTube for copyright infringement…
Heh…
My initials are ‘RC.”
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I think collaboration is in the works.
How bout a YouTube tab along the left nav of iTunes. iTunes becomes the defacto hub of all media. Watch YouTube streaming for free with ads in a slick interface that Apple designs into iTunes…create your own YouTube video folders…download direct to your iPod for a buck. Beomes another way to monitize all that video.
just a thought.
Re: Google Mac Blog
From the Google Mac Blog:
“Blogs We Read
MacNN
Macworld
MacUpdate
Mac Minute
The Unofficial Apple Weblog
Infinite Loop
MacSlash
Daring Fireball
Macintouch
Mac OS X Hints
TidBITS
Version Tracker
MacCentral
MacDevCenter”
Where’s MDN?
Time for YouTube to be sued now that they have lots of money.
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has anyone noticed that YouTube was being targeted for lawsuits becuase of users posting pirated content or illegally posting stuff which they dont own the license to?
now that Google owns it, people wont be able to post anything they want; If they do, you can be sure Google will be hit with a TON of lawsuits, cuase it’s a much bigger bullseye than youtube…