By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Business Writer © 2006 The Associated Press http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/4246438.html SAN FRANCISCO — 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.
Holy ****. January of last year these guys were regular dudes like us. Now they're worth over half a billion dollars. I love America!
Does this mean Google will scrap video.google? I mean, YouTube and Google's video section were basically the same animal, right?
How is it not profitable if it sold for $1.65 billion? Unless it's a small country, I'd say selling anything for $1.65 billion will net you a pretty big profit...
No. Google Video was horrible. I don't know how they encoded things but the videos always looked ugly. YouTube has a better interface all around.
Many movie production companies showcase their PREVIEWS on there before they put them anywhere else and pay for the search engine to show them before others. That's how they were already making money. Besides, advertisers KNOW that people flock to youtube for everything.
Why? Google is a great company. It has made all our our lives better. Don't you remember the crappy search portals before Google came along?
i prefer google video....loads much faster than youtube, the interface is better. ya the quality isnt as good, but GOOGLE video rules...
So it sucks but it rules? It's a video site. Video quality should be one of the top priorities. Load time is not as important in these broadband days since it might be a 1 second difference.
I don't have the link to mark cuban's blog, but he made a point about that today before the buyout was official. basically said that no one has sued youtube for distribution of copyrighted material because they don't have any money yet. so he said if google or anyone bought them out then the lawsuits would start to gear up. we will see what the future holds.
grrr....there has to be some way for us to make a stupid billion dollars like this. even if most of the profits go to VC backers. We should do a competition or something - come up with the best online business...would anyone be interested in a Clutch BBS Business Plan Competition Thread?
These guys made out great. But It is a stock deal and usually you can't sell for 1 year. During that time (while google is getting sued nonstop) they have to sit and watch their stock value go down. I knew a few guys during the last bubble who got out within days of having zero value left - others who didn't make it out in time. I have a deal we are structuring now and we are requiring min value guarantees on the stock part of the sale --- hopefully these guys did the same.
I actually didnt find out about it until that Saturday Night Live "Lazy Sunday" video. They owe Chris Parnell a cut.
