How does anyone put a market price on what this websites are worth? For $1.6 billion, it would seem google could have created their own version of youtube?
Unless they want to control the information it provides through censorship/editing/omission.
Google already has, it's Google Video. YouTube it's their main competition, so they are going to buy them out.
Time is of the essence in cornering the information market and its best to pay up front and gain the 2 or 3 years it would take to generate a site with the hits youtube has.
The real cost to Google is just the cash. I would guess it's probably less then 25% of the deal. The stock portion is just an exchange of like value and in a way is just funny money.
John
google has a site....it is in 4th place or so. I think they are going after all the content, as well at the name.
Myspace and YouTube are now the most popular websites among the young demographic....adding YouTube to Googles ad sales team and tracking devices would create a larger value than the two separate companies.
1 + 1 = 3
They could every news story you read on google news, keywords in your google mail, your search terms and recommend videos based on your selections, and vice versa, all the while selling ads preferenced to you at every click.