Online Media M&A Update 2: Is Google the moron?
After much hype and speculation, it's official. Google has acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion. Several including, Mark Cuban, believe that YouTube will die a legal death due all of the pending litigation and Cuban went so far as to call anyone who would buy YouTube a moron. Investors, however, have warmed to the news and shot Google's stock $8.50 or 2% on Monday.
No news in the press release how this will impact today's Google Video team or their existing offering, but it does say that YouTube's 67 employees will remain including founders Chad Hurley and Steven Chen.
THR predicts Google Video will remain a seperate entity for the forseeable future, and given the strengths of YouTube's brand, it will remain relatively autonomous. Over time - ie when YouTube's legal issues are minimized - perhaps Google Video becomes the download option for high quality, professional programming and YouTube remains the user-generated streaming (really progressive download) vehicle.
Updating the Online Media M&A timeline:
- October 10, 2006 - Google acquires YouTube for $1.65B in stock
- September 27, 2006 - Yahoo! acquires JumpCut for an undisclosed amount
- August 23, 2006 - Sony Home Entertainment buys Grouper for $65M
- July 19, 2005 - News Corp. acquires Intermix Media (MySpace parent) for $770M
1 Comments:
Once you give users the option of purchasing quality video content in via an easy, afforable and SUSTAINABLE manner they'll do it! Most of us don't steal. We pay for gas, we pay for gorceries and once it's as easy to pay for online content as it is gas and groceries we'll start paying. The companies in the market that embrace this and base their models on this should find success in the long tail. Give me a Z - U - N = E! By the way, is it just me or has Mark Cuban become a poster child for invective? Eric Schmidt a moron? Come on...
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home