20 replies to this topic

[storyspinner]

Google bought YouTube for $1.65 in stock options. It's everywhere right now.
I've got a round of up stories if anyone's interested.

Done Deal: Google Buys YouTube

[SearchRank]

From MSNBC:

The price makes YouTube, a still-unprofitable startup, by far the most expensive purchase made by Google during its eight-year history.

Unprofitable - not any more!

[JohneeMac]

They are taking over the world

[qwerty]

I understand they're going to preserve the brand. I don't know if that means they're going to continue to have it and G Video, combine the two or what.

[ewc21]

Google bought YouTube for $1.65 in stock options.

That's $1.65 billion.

I think the move was to seize the market for video. According to sources, Youtube has 46% share in the market and cornering this gives them an edge over competitors. I think it's a risk to buy Youtube for that money given that it hasn't proven enough to be a money making site. But that's Google.

[Jill]

Wow, never even heard of youtube till Matt Bailey mentioned it to me at one of our last seminars. Still have rarely even been there.

Strange world we live in.

Congrats to the people who own youtube I guess!



Just goes to show ya that you CAN think creatively and start new stuff and be successful at it, even these days.

[robbinsr]

To me, this seems like a smart move for Google. They have the money, YouTube has the fans, and now they have easy access into any new video postings (if they wish) so they can index them before the other S.E. competitors can.

In my opinion, this seems similar to their strategy when they purchased Blogger/BlogSpot. Once you wrote a new article for your Blog Google could already know about it. Now once you post a new video, Google will already know about it. And Blogger/BlogSpot still looks and acts (for the most part) the same except it is now more free. Hopefully YouTube will be the same.

Interesting side note is that this is now the second big popular video posting site bought out recently, Sony just bought one of YouTube's competitors out too. What does Google and Sony know that we don't know?

[xan]

I like youtube, it's a good idea too. More data is good.

[prawin]

Google wins again:

Having previously turned down MySpace, Google has paid more than three times the amount of money NewsCorp paid for that community to pick up the video sharing social network YouTube.

More info

[smc_online]

Ah...they purchased a building in NY that sits on top of an internet back bone....now they bought a video search competitor.... So what'll will they purchase next?...

Satellite radio?
GPS vendor?
TV network?

At this rate of gobbling up companies, Google may eventually become synonymous with...ah...dare I say... "world wide web"?

Only time will tell!

[jwhitakr]

That's $1.65 billion.

I think the move was to seize the market for video. According to sources, Youtube has  46% share in the market and cornering this gives them an edge over competitors. I think it's a risk to buy Youtube for that money given that it hasn't proven enough to be a money making site. But that's Google.

Absolutely unbelievable amount of money to pay, IMHO. I fear we are moving back in time, to the dot-com age where common sense and basic financial principles are tossed out the window for "the next hot thing."

Glad I don't own any Google stock.

[Shane]

ShoeMoney makes a great case for why this isn't nearly as much money as it sounds like: http://www.shoemoney...eal-make-sense/

[Randy]

Even if you discount the Adsense money that they'll be making/saving by bringing YouTube in-house --which is a significant number-- the amount of traffic involved says that it makes complete sense. Especially since Google could independently verify the traffic numbers because of the Adsense impressions.

According to a recent Nielsen/Netratings publication (warning, it's a pdf file) YouTube was averaging 19.6 million unique visits per month by June of this year, up from 4.9 million per month at the beginning of the year.

By July the unique visits traffic was up to 12.8 Million for a week that ended July 16th. I'd be willing to bet it's been rising expoentially since. So if one were to assume the Value of each visitor was only $1 on average and if you assume YouTube traffic onl gets to 20 Million per week and holds there, the purchase price would be fully monetized and paid in full in about a year and a half.

That's leaving Adwords/Adsense out of the mix totally.

Looks like a great deal for Google in my ledger book.

So what'll will they purchase next?...

Don't forget they've already got all of that Dark Fiber they started purchasing a few years back. And have also already tested a WiFi network out in San Francisco. And have already filed patents for software that'll allow them to monetize it all.

Me thinks a Google WiFi Network is getting closer and closer to being a reality. And it'll have the bandwidth to burn right from the get go.

[qwerty]

By July the unique visits traffic was up to 12.8 Million for a week that ended July 16th.

Yeah, but if and when the saga of Lonelygirl15 ends, half of that traffic will be gone

[mortigen]

I heard Lonelygirl15 was starring in some flick for the UN.