http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/06/business/google.php
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California The Internet search leader, Google, is in talks to acquire the popular online video site YouTube for about $1.6 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Google and YouTube are still at a sensitive stage in the discussion, the newspaper reported Friday on its Web site. The Web blog TechCrunch has also reported on rumors of the acquisition talks.
A purchase by Google of YouTube would give the most-used Internet search engine a Web site of video clips that is visited by more than 34 million Americans each month.
Google already has a video service that lets everyday users post clips, but unlike YouTube, Google also gives them the choice of selling video. All YouTube clips are free.
"They are buying audience," said Charlene Li, an analyst at Forrester Research in San Francisco. "It totally makes sense. The biggest problem Google Video has had is that they started with a business plan, not a user model."
A Google spokesman, David Krane, said the company did not comment on "rumor and speculation." Julie Supan, a spokeswoman for YouTube, based in San Mateo, California, did not return a call and e-mail seeking comment.
Google's pursuit of YouTube would underscore the scramble by established Internet companies to keep pace with the surging popularity of new sites.
YouTube, started in February 2005, attracts users who download more than 100 million video snippets each day, most of them homemade.
YouTube was founded by three former employees of PayPal, an online- payment company owned by eBay. YouTube is surging because of increased availability of high-speed Internet connections and gadgets like camera phones and digital cameras capable of taking video.
Most YouTube offerings are short amateur clips, although professional filmmakers, television networks and even political campaigns have posted material.
YouTube's market share tops that of similar services offered by Google and other popular Web sites, according to some research companies.
When rumors circulated this year that major media companies were interested in buying YouTube, the company's chief executive, Chad Hurley, said the company was not for sale.
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The Google internet domination continues. If they do buy it I wonder if they will get rid of google video or incorporate the two somehow.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California The Internet search leader, Google, is in talks to acquire the popular online video site YouTube for about $1.6 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Google and YouTube are still at a sensitive stage in the discussion, the newspaper reported Friday on its Web site. The Web blog TechCrunch has also reported on rumors of the acquisition talks.
A purchase by Google of YouTube would give the most-used Internet search engine a Web site of video clips that is visited by more than 34 million Americans each month.
Google already has a video service that lets everyday users post clips, but unlike YouTube, Google also gives them the choice of selling video. All YouTube clips are free.
"They are buying audience," said Charlene Li, an analyst at Forrester Research in San Francisco. "It totally makes sense. The biggest problem Google Video has had is that they started with a business plan, not a user model."
A Google spokesman, David Krane, said the company did not comment on "rumor and speculation." Julie Supan, a spokeswoman for YouTube, based in San Mateo, California, did not return a call and e-mail seeking comment.
Google's pursuit of YouTube would underscore the scramble by established Internet companies to keep pace with the surging popularity of new sites.
YouTube, started in February 2005, attracts users who download more than 100 million video snippets each day, most of them homemade.
YouTube was founded by three former employees of PayPal, an online- payment company owned by eBay. YouTube is surging because of increased availability of high-speed Internet connections and gadgets like camera phones and digital cameras capable of taking video.
Most YouTube offerings are short amateur clips, although professional filmmakers, television networks and even political campaigns have posted material.
YouTube's market share tops that of similar services offered by Google and other popular Web sites, according to some research companies.
When rumors circulated this year that major media companies were interested in buying YouTube, the company's chief executive, Chad Hurley, said the company was not for sale.
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The Google internet domination continues. If they do buy it I wonder if they will get rid of google video or incorporate the two somehow.
