Google Buys YouTube
So the rumours were true and Google has officially announced that it will be acquiring YouTube for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction.
Following the acquisition, YouTube will operate independently to preserve its successful brand and passionate community. YouTube’s 65 employees will remain with the company at YouTube’s San Bruno headquarters.
It also looks like Google will continue to maintain its own online video business, which I'm not too sure is a good idea.
According to Internet research firm Hitwise, YouTube has about a 46 percent share of the online video market. Still, they haven't proven their ability to make money yet, which makes this deal mostly a strategic/market share one for Google, but quite risky nevertheless.
But then again, I'm sure Google have something in mind and have plans on how to start making money out of both YouTube and Google Video.
[More: CNN Money]
Google Buys Writely Queen Rania, A Vlogger On YouTube Against Stereotypes Google PC, Google Cubes? Google Offers $10M To Boost Green Transportation Technology New Stuff From GoogleGoogle could not bear being #5 in such a popular market where YouTube is getting 100 Millions downloads a day. Google's vision is to be #1 web site destination for consumers so it can put its adSense machine in play. Nevertheless it has to deal with the legal hurdle of copyright/child protection...etc.
I posted an article yesterday about this at http://samsoum-usa.blogspot.com/2006/10/google-said-to-buy-youtube-for-16b.html
