Google snaps up YouTube for $1.65B
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By Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writer Google Inc. snapped up YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion Monday in deal that catapults the Internet search leader to a leading role in the online video revolution.The all-stock acquisition unites one of the Internet's marquee companies with one of its rapidly rising stars.The price makes YouTube, a still-unprofitable startup, by far the most expensive purchase made by Google during its eight-year history.Although some cynics have questioned YouTube's staying power, Google is betting that the popular Web site will provide it an increasingly lucrative marketing hub as more viewers and advertisers migrate from television to the Internet."We are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment service to users, content owners and advertisers," said Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive officer.YouTube will continue to retain its brand, as well as all 67 employees, including co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.(
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drewnice
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And now the lawsuits from everydamnperson/ineverydamnvideo shall begin!!!!
Why do you believe this is so?
Edit: I agree...I see this more as a "look what we have that you don't" while-clutching-your-nuts boardroom gesture.
Yes. I know they make money in other ways too but for the most part it's all advertising.
I imagine it got a pretty penny in the licensing deal with Apple to put that little Google search field in the Safari browser.
I do know that a number of TV companies have made deals for them to show tv programs on Youtube. I think they make a decent chunk off advertising too.
I disagree. Google is following the Microsoft model of expanding its spheres of influence without spending vast amounts of money on R+D. I expect YouTube to be absorbed and the technology integrated with Google's homepage for video searches, thus netting advertising revenues on both ends.
excuse me for a minute. i have some brainstorming to do.
Do you think people would pay money to see nekkid ladies online??
YouTube was going to be bought out by someone and if a rival like Yahoo or Microsoft bought it it would have been a blow to Google. I think Google saw this as an opportunity not only to expand their own services but as a means of blocking a competitor. I think Google took a lesson from Myspace. Their tried to rival it with a smaller website (Friendster) and failed.
haha. it could be that simple.
i would guess everyone on this board has thought of something, never pursued it, and later found it out that idea was turned into millions or billions.
my father claims to have invented cheese fries while in the army.
seriously, who clicks on the google ads above?
is google still trading at $400? sheesh and what is mit that they do exactly again? i mean yeah i use the search engine on the daily but i could easily muse yahoo!'s plus they got fantasy sports.
I do on occasion if, for no other reason, than to support SS. You gotta realize that some of those links are big bucks. When you do a search for "jewelry" the ads which appear at the top cost about $50 to $100 PER CLICK!!!
good god! besides making sure soulstrut gets some fetti, do folks get their interests piqued by Incognito or Hip Hop Jeweler.
well if soulstrut can maintain itself, im all for google ads, but for google to bankroll themselves primarily on ads, that seems a bit unwise.
amazing
yea, i never understood this until my girl started working for an online ticket broker. they get charged up to $10 per click when they advertise on the side of a google search. crazy.
jesus, here we go, ive just finished writing my thesis on the viral video market (as it applys to one particular company) and spent a wee while on the Youtube section. my figures are out-of-date now (a whole 1 month) but here you go:
???Our vision is to build the next-generation platform for serving media worldwide. It is the birth of a new clip culture. There is a complete shift happening in digital media entertainment and users are now in control of what they watch and when they watch it. At YouTube, we are seeing an evolution of entertainment and media distribution ??? where the audience is now in control more than ever???. Chad Hurley. Youtube founder, CEO 2006
The success of Youtube is, according to Mr. Hurley ???about user choice and we are the people???s choice - our success lies in the fact that we are democratizing the entertainment experience and creating a community for people to interact with video. Also, YouTube has made video sharing easier than anyone else. Members can be uploading and sharing video within minutes of wandering onto the site???.
It is this ease of use that has potential advertisers very interested in Youtube and Youtube very interested in them.
In a May 2006 interview with Fortune magazine, the two co-founders explained their position:
Mr. Chen: If we wanted to, we could instantly turn this into $10 million in revenue per month by running pre-rolls [short video ads] on the videos. But at the same time, we're going to make sure that whatever revenue model we've built is going to be something that's accepted by the users.
Mr. Hurley: We're building relationships with studios, networks, and labels because they're looking for ways to reach new audiences, and we have a great platform and a great stage to make that happen.
When asked in a July 2006 interview about the companys??? business model; Mr. Hurley explained;[/b]
???It will be an advertising-based model. We are exploring ways to serve up relevant advertising that will benefit the viewing experience since we know a lot about each of the videos based on how they are tagged. We have been moving cautiously to ensure we don???t disrupt the goodness of the community. But at the end of the day it???s the viewers that decide what is entertaining whether it be user-generated content or professionally produced videos ??? our community is still in control and will decide what rises to the top???.
Following through on his claim, YouTube announced a new advertising strategy on Tuesday August 22nd 2006. Moving away from the text and banner ad model, ???the company is selling the upper-right corner to advertisers for an undisclosed daily rate, also allowing them to create special YouTube ???channels??? for which they would be charged based on the number of page visitors.???
"It's giving brands and advertisers a new way to provide new material to the YouTube community, this gives them a chance to create a viral video??? Chad Hurley said.
YouTube, like its contemporary???s ebaumsworld, boreme, kontraband, and consumptionjunction is now in effect renting out prime home page real estate.
In cyberspace as in the real-world, the old adage rings true: location, location, location.
The power wielded by the Youtube New Consumer ???community??? is a force to be reckoned with as this is far from the small group that the word community normally evokes, To the contrary, the Youtube community is a veritable internet powerhouse, growing at a staggering rate and showing no signs of slowing.
Appendix: YouTube Growth (page 87) shows the rise of YouTube in comparison with its aggregator competitors as well as other online giants.
etcetcetc...
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor and dot-com veteran Mark Cuban had harsh words on Thursday for YouTube, the online site that lets people share video clips, saying only a "moron" would purchase the wildly popular start-up.
Cuban, co-founder of HDNet and owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, also said YouTube would eventually be "sued into oblivion"[/b] because of copyright violations.
"They are just breaking the law," Cuban told a group of advertisers in New York. "The only reason it hasn't been sued yet is because there is nobody with big money to sue." [/b]
this is all sad. youtube has replaced tv and especially cable for me. everything i watch ends up on there. tds, colbert, adult swim stuff, etc.
i wonder when media companies are going to quit suing the fuck out of every new innovation and embrace the inevitable. it would be nice if they'd spend some time on content. especially with news and music. dumbass baby boomers.
That's fucking awesome. Soundtrack is fire. Turkish? Damn, and I love how this Uhuru's butt cheeks are hangin out her space go-go uniform.
I hear ya....but I don't think it's gonna just be media companies doing the suing.....everyone from the dumb beyatch that got the snot beat out of her in some filmed street fight to the dumb ass that shot up the Koran will try to get a piece of the pie.....I imagine there are sleazy lawyers salivating all over the country.
Listen... Do not give credit to a guy that made his money the same way he's now criticizing. He made a shit load of money selling something pretty much useless now to yahoo. A very small part of why there was a dot com burst, is because of what he made billions off. For him to turn around now and use words like crazy/morons is laughable to say the least.
Mr. Cuban does not know what Googles plans are for Youtube. So, he should really just sit back, count his money, watch his mavs lose, have a coke & a smile and STFU.
you can't download the videos without some kind of hacking program. networks and movie studios will be paying youtube to promote their products. if you watch the office, they have been posting clips on youtube since the end of last season. by the time google really starts putting money into youtube, it will be
is google taking over the world? any brokers on this board recommend it as a stock purchase?
as it stands, youtube does not have to approve of your video before it gets posted. could you sue a newspaper for something that they printed in the classified section? i doubt it. in order to win a case against youtube i think it would be difficult to prove that they owe a duty to your client, simply by being a portal. its another story if your client contacted them abour removing the video and youtube refused. i'm not an expert in this area so i'm really just speculating. it will be interesting to see what happens with these cases if they exist.