EETimes.com – Google to acquire YouTube for $1.65 billion
Google Inc. on Monday said it has agreed to acquire video site YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion in stock, a move that greatly expands the search engine giant’s advertising reach in online video.
The acquisition would combine the largest company in online search with one of the largest sites for video sharing. The deal was announced the same day both companies unveiled separate content deals with major record companies.
In a joint teleconference, YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley said the acquisition would give the startup, founded in February 2005, the money and engineering resources needed to add services and accelerate its growth. In July, YouTube was the third most popular site for streaming or downloading video, followed by No. 1 Yahoo and social-network MySpace.com, according to ComScore Networks.
Eric Schmidt, chief executive for Google, said YouTube was the “clear winner on the social-networking side of video.”
“That’s what really drove us to pursue this transaction,” Schmidt said.
Social networking? What planet is Eric from? This looks to be the topic for the Marketwatch column this week.
This is pure madness! google had both the resources and talent to do better???
Well at least Murdoch isn’t going to buy it now.
#2
It’s still a stinker deal. I liked YouTube due to the fact that they weren’t part of Google… anyway, the VCs got their money, so they’re happy.
GooTube!! hilarious.
1.65 Billion for a site full of copyright infringers?
I guess Google has decided that there’s nothing “evil” about copyright violation.
Finally! Something dumber than NK nukes who want to know if they make us horny.
They are already censoring political content, when they are a monopoly, this cant be good.
Do you think they will censor lonelygirl15?
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5 I guess Google has decided that there’s nothing “evil” about copyright violation.
From the linked article:
“YouTube plans to launch by the end of the year technology that would enable copyright holders to search and find unauthorized content and remove it from the site, or leave it up and share ad revenue with YouTube. It’s not clear, however, whether YouTube plans to remove illegal content on its own, or leave it up to copyright holders to notify them first.”
Hell, I’d have bought youtube if I had the money, just to keep videos like this one from being lost:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS2GY8C_2sY&eurl=
As for slogans for GooTube:
* Smooth and easy.
* Smile, you’re being examined.
* We’re not like the others… we care.
* Never thought we could touch your heart?
* Watch us, and we’ll watch you.
* It doesn’t have to hurt when a corporation violates you.
I read this on Reuters this morning. The article said Youtube had just signed several deals with music companies over the possibility of copyright infringement. It is apparently no longer a problem. They will be shareing revenue and some other things.
I would rather Google has this company than Murdoch or Yahoo…..those were the 2 main companies looking to snatch it up.
The article said that Yahoo will probably buy Facebook.
Way to call this one Dvorak!
1.6 billion in shares… that means shareholders essentially paid for it out of their pockets (a dillution of shares = reduction in share value). I would be very annoyed if I owned Google right now.
You guys are all nuts. YouTube would have died or at least stopped being a free service for all you ingrates out there if Google hadn’t come along and bought it.
At least you know Google won’t charge us the end-users. Are you telling me Microsoft would have been better for us?
Some people whinge and whine. At least Google has worked out a business model most people are happy with. I prefer it 20 times over some of the other options for ‘monetizing’ YouTube.
Jim R – the fact you don’t already own Google means you never got why they were going to succeed in the first place – which means you’re probably not going to get it now either with their video foray.
All you nobs on this conversation are saying that YouTube was a stinker deal. you probably said the same when Murdoch bought MySpace.
These guys became worth billions by taking a few gambles. Watching all us educated commentators sniping all the way is just great reading.
#19 – Thank goodness for educated commentators… We’re not worthy, we’re not worthy…
Seriously… Jim… do you see the world in rose-colored glasses? There’s not a slightest problem with Google having their hand in all aspects of your online life? If not, then all power to you.
JimJamz, Google is itting at 65X earnings. Thats a lot of future pricing already built in. They have 10 billion in cash. They didn’t use it because they didn’t want to take the risk. Shareholders took the risk for them.
I understand perfectly why they are succeeding so far. Remember Nortel?
#17
At least Google has worked out a business model most people are happy with.
And that is… Freebies in exchange for all your data... something that average Joe isn’t fully aware of.
Its really amazed me,
ALL this money that the corps have to spend and buy Each other, and those ont he bottom, the poor, dont get any and There are only MINOR improvements in tech.
17: I don’t care. I’m not a YouTube viewer; I do not have a MySpace page, I do not post my digital photos to Flickr, I do not download torrents. I manage to live on the internets just fine without them. This is not to say that they are universally without merit; simply that they happen to bore me.
19. Yes, I did, on both counts. I can identify the most significant buying trend uniting the key demographic of both YouTube and MySpace without paying however many billions to purchase a company whose other significant asset is the ability to create debt, and will do so here, for free.
They don’t like paying for things.
I’m sure there’s a fortune in it for whomever can figure out a way to monetize this information, and they’re welcome to it. I won’t be holding my breath, though.
ECA, I agree that the capitalist nature of business can get obscene sometimes, but Google didn’t spend a penny for You Tube. They created shares….poof…. and suddenly all shareholders are holding 1.5% less of their shares of google than they were before. That should be illegal without a shareholders vote.
See, Sen. Stevens was right. The internet is a series of tubes.
I thought Google had their own video service? Did it fail?
Is Google turning into Microsoft where “if you can’t innovate buy the innovators”
22And that is… Freebies in exchange for all your data… something that average Joe isn’t fully aware of.
It sort of works for me… depending on the data.
I feel like my private details BELONG TO ME and I resent that companies like Equifax collect — AND PROFIT OFF — my personal information without giving me a dime.
Most Americans feel the same about being marketed to. We are used to the USA TV model where we can opt-in to free entertainment at the price of sufering through advertising. It seems like a fair deal.
So I don’t mind reasonable ads on the Internet. However, I would actually welcome a micro-payment system to opt-out of ads, as long as it is truly MICRO … a fraction of a penny per view.
#15 — Yes, I did say on Twits that there was no way this would happen. I made the mistake of actually using logic rather than my usual convoluted thought process. NO MORE!
#29. I can’t imagine any thought process, no matter how consoluted, that could have thought the rumour was true.
It makes no sense. Your TWIT comments were right on.
I smell Time Warner & AOL.
-Matt