as rumored....
Google Agrees to Buy YouTube Google agreed to buy video-sharing site YouTube in an all-stock deal worth about $1.65 billion, marking the largest acquisition in Google's history. Both firms reached licensing deals with media companies to carry videos online.... The companies said they expect to close the transaction in the fourth quarter.
“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, in a press release. The price makes YouTube, a still-unprofitable startup, the most expensive purchase made by Google.
YouTube CEO and co-founder Chad Hurley said: ”By joining forces with Google, we can benefit from its global reach and technology leadership to deliver a more comprehensive entertainment experience for our users and to create new opportunities for our partners.“
The two companies separately today announced a series of deals to license content from music companies for their video services, and YouTube announced a content partnership and ad revenue-sharing deal with CBS Corp.
An agreement by Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group to make available thousands of videos on YouTube is particularly significant, since Universal Music Chief Executive Doug Morris last month told investors that YouTube violates copyright laws by allowing users to post music videos and other content. Universal Music has considered taking legal action against YouTube over that issue, say people familiar with the matter.
The YouTube deal is the largest acquisition in the eight year history of Google, Mountain View, Calif. It combines Google's global technical infrastructure and system for serving up advertisements from hundreds of thousands of advertisers with YouTube's leading position in serving up videos to users on the Web.
Hope Mark Cuban wasn't right (that now the copyright thugs are going to sue the flesh off of YouTube's new owners)
(Cuban's original post, The coming dramatic decline of youtube, and follow up Riddle me this copyright gurus), because I enjoy linking video content on my blog.
Some analysts and industry executives have warned that any acquirer of YouTube could face copyright headaches, including lawsuits by some content owners who are already concerned that their copyright video and music is available without their permission through YouTube. YouTube, which says it removes any videos with infringing content when notified, already faces one lawsuit related to this issue. Its agreements announced today with Universal Music, Sony BMG and the other content owners could potentially reduce any concerns about further lawsuits against YouTube for videos and music uploaded to its site by users without the copyright holders' permission.
