Google Buys YouTube

Just three days ago there were strong rumors of a potential purchase of YouTube by Google and today it is done and dusted as Google announced it has aquired YouTube for $1.65 Billion in stock.

YouTube will continue to work on it’s brand and will retain all 67 employees, including co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.It’s a good thing that YouTube will continue with it’s brand, God forbid we hear names such as Gtube or Googtube thrown in the air!.

According to Google’s Press Release:

“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 Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google. “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.”

With this purchase Google has catapuled itself to the top of the online video revolution,not to mention this has been Google’s most expensive purchase by far in it’s 8 year history.

Rumors are that Yahoo Inc will be pressured to make a similar move and may well end up purchasing Facebook.com for over a Billion dollars, although persuading the owner to sell is another matter all together.

“Yahoo really needs to step up and do something,” said Roger Aguinaldo, an investment banker who also publishes a dealmaking newsletter called the M&A Advisor. “They are becoming less relevant and looking less innovative with each passing day.”

Selling to Mountain View-based Google will give YouTube more technological muscle and advertising know-how, as well as generate a staggering windfall for a 67-employee company that was running on credit card debt just 20 months ago.

Read More:

Yahoo News

Google Press Release

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