Ka-Ching! Google Buys YouTube for $1.65B

Google is at it again! The company is seemingly on a quest to buy the entire Internet. And that trend continued with its recent purchase of the video sharing website YouTube.com for $1.65 billion in stock.

When a corporate buyout takes place, the new owners generally attempt to change or compromise their shiny new acquisition in some way. However, that won't be the case with YouTube, according to Google's press release: "YouTube will operate independently to preserve its successful brand and passionate community."

Representatives of both Google and YouTube have already made comments about the recent sale:

Google: "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," stated Google's Chief Executive Officer, 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."

YouTube: "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," according to Chad Hurley, YouTube's CEO and Co-Founder. "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." (Source: google.com)

Here are some quick facts about the transaction:

• Google originally made YouTube a much lower offer, but the video sharing company wasn't interested.
   
• The deal will officially close by the end of the year.
   
• YouTube's headquarters will remain in its original San Bruno, California location.
   
• Google plans to keep all 67 of YouTube's employees on the payroll.
   
• YouTube will keep its name.

Google has no plans to abandon its own video section; instead, that will become more integrated with the search engine. (Source: wired.com)

Not everyone agrees with Google's decision to buy YouTube, though. Earlier this year, before Google's plans were even a rumor, controversial Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban lashed out by saying that only a "moron" would purchase the video sharing website.

Cuban said at the time that YouTube would eventually be "sued into oblivion" because its users often posts videos that violate copyrights. "[YouTube is] just breaking the law," Cuban insisted. "The only reason it hasn't been sued yet is because there is nobody with big money to sue." (Source: zdnet.com)

Music videos by big name artists are one example of the illegal content on YouTube that Cuban was referring to. But contrary to Cuban's claims, music companies do have the "big money" necessary to take YouTube to court. Apparently, though, none of them have yet. Perhaps they consider the free publicity and exposure beneficial? After all, the low quality compressed videos on YouTube aren't exactly a suitable substitute for a professional product.

Still, Cuban's words have some validity to them. YouTube's legal situation will certainly be worth keeping an eye on.