Google Buys YouTube For $1.65 Billion

Jackpot

GOOGLE announced today that it has agreed to acquire YOUTUBE for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction. Following the acquisition, YOUTUBE will continue to operate independently out of its SAN BRUNO, CA headquarters. The combined companies will focus on providing a better, more comprehensive experience for users and will offer new opportunities for professional content owners to distribute their work.

"The YOUTUBE team has built an exciting and powerful media platform that complements GOOGLE's mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," said GOOGLE CEO ERIC SCHMIDT. "Our companies share similar values; we both always put our users first and are committed to innovating to improve their experience. Together, we are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment service to users, content owners and advertisers." 

Said YOUTUBE CEO and co-founder CHAD HURLEY, "Our community has played a vital role in changing the way that people consume media, creating a new clip culture. 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. I’m confident that with this partnership we’ll have the flexibility and resources needed to pursue our goal of building the next-generation platform for serving media worldwide."

The number of GOOGLE shares to be issued in the transaction will be determined based on the 30-day average closing price two trading days prior to the completion of the acquisition. Both companies have approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006.

As ALL ACCESS reported earlier today,  while there are many who think it's a good acquisition, there are naysayers about such a deal, considering the potential copyright lawsuits YOUTUBE may be facing.  DALLAS MAVERICKS owner and dot-com billionaire MARK CUBAN is on record as saying YOUTUBE would be "sued into oblivion" as soon as it was owned by a company with deep pockets, and that anyone who bought the company was "a moron."

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