Soon enough, Google really is going to control all information on the Internet. $1.65B also doesn’t seem that much in comparison to other business buyouts, takeovers and purchases.
Google, the Internet’s leading search engine, announced Monday that it is buying popular online video site YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock.
YouTube, which was founded in February 2005, has quickly become the most well-known of several online video sites. More than 100 million videos, many of which are short videos created by the site’s users, are downloaded a day on the site.
According to Internet research firm Hitwise, YouTube has about a 46 percent share of the online video market.
For Google (Charts), the purchase of YouTube gives the company the ability to tap into the potentially lucrative online video and social networking markets. Some analysts have criticized Google for relying too much on advertising tied to keyword searches.
The combination of Google and YouTube could further strengthen Google’s dominance in online advertising, giving it an edge over rivals such as Yahoo!, Microsoft’s MSN and News Corp., which owns the social networking site MySpace. Some analysts said Monday that Yahoo, Microsoft and News Corp. also had probably expressed interest in buying YouTube.
In a statement, Google said that YouTube will operate as an independent unit of Google once the deal closes and will retain the YouTube brand name. The companies added that no YouTube workers will lose their jobs as a result of the acquisition and that Google will maintain its own online video business.
October 10th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
really?
is 1.65B loooaaaaaads and worth it?
October 10th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Google Buys YouTube…
For #1.6 billion in stock. Yes, thats billion. YouTube.com (YouTube.com) lets you upload video clips as large as 100 megabytes and as long as 10 minutes. There is much concern that Google will start charging to view or upload vid…
October 11th, 2006 at 7:47 am
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October 11th, 2006 at 9:09 am
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July 19th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
These guys are getting frighteningly powerful - is this the next Microsoft?