spectrum48k

Can someone expalin how YouTube can be worth so much mnoey ?

It doesn't seem to sell ad-space or anything, so how come its worth $1.6 billion?

SlimJ_2005

I have no idea and would like to know myself!

YouTube is a brand now that is known worldwide, that has to have some big impact on its value?!?

Criss

£900 million pounds!

What a price for those 2 geeks that started it from a basement a few years ago!

Google are expecting to use it to stream films and TV and other stuff alike!

YOu'll still be able to watch free movies but for higher quality stuff you'll prob have to pay and the people who upload decent videos will get a small proffit back from it

Seems like a bargin to me the way the future is being set up

In 5 years time it will have made them double that money!

Recaro

They do have adverts on there pages, not many but they apparently make $1 million a month. Then again they apparently spend $1 million a month on running cost.

Maybe Google have big plans for it with its high traffic.

GaryK

customer base, its why ebay bought skype and other deals of that ilk.

bob269

Because 100million videos a day are watched on youtube and google want those hits.

Silver Scooby Sport

iTrader: (15)

A Message From Chad and Steve

CLICKY


Industry executives met Google Inc.'s marriage to YouTube Inc. with mixed reactions Monday after the internet search giant agreed to acquire privately held YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock.
It's been a wild ride for the startup founded in February 2005 in a Menlo Park, Calif., garage. YouTube announced its first round of funding the following November for $3.5 million from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. In April 2006, the company received an additional $8 million in a second round of funding from Sequoia.
"The deal proves online video is a highly valued sector, and Google is confident it can monetize the enormous amount of traffic YouTube has today," said James Belcher, senior analyst eMarketer. "It's a nice switch from many deals done during the dot-com era, where the goal was to build traffic."
Today, Belcher said, the focus for companies turns to building traffic that can drive advertising dollars, which works well for entertainment industry executives trying to cope with a new supply chain that brings in multiple types of multimedia content like digital ringtones, music, and videos.
Thomas Hesse, president of Global Digital Business at Sony BMG Music Entertainment, declined to comment directly on the acquisition, but said the digital music group is pleased to have signed licensing deals with both Google and YouTube announced earlier Monday.
"The sites are a great way to connect our artists to their fans in a legitimate way, respecting copyrights," Hesse said. As Sony BMG expands its supply chain into different distribution models, "we'll continue pushing our content through this new platform."
In another take on the deal, outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who also has a hand in high-definition (HD) broadcasting, entertainment and movie theaters, congratulated YouTube for getting Google to "say yes," but he plans to keep an eye on copyright and digital rights management issues.
"It will be interesting to see what happens next and what happens in the copyright world," according to Cuban's blog. "I still think Google's lawyers will be a busy, busy bunch. I don't think you can sue Google into oblivion, but as others have mentioned, if Google gets nailed one single time for copyright violation, there are going to be more shareholder lawsuits than Doans has pills to go with the pile on copyright suits that follow."
Video search engine Pixsy CEO Chase Norlin agrees with Cuban. "I think the deal is one of the silliest maneuvers I've ever seen Google make because the majority of content on YouTube is copyrighted, taken from other places and uploaded by users," he said. "I did a search on YouTube recently for Indigo Girls, the music group. There were six pages of bootleg material on the site."
Norlin, whose video search engine Pixsy serves up thumbnails of video content, said he's willing to wager copyright material on YouTube accounts for between 50 percent and 60 percent of material on the site
Capgemini head of strategy Jason Forbes said Google must find the right business model for the site to exist. "The acquisition represents a juncture in evolution for online video," he said. "If Google moves too quickly, YouTube will likely turn off customers because a large part of the attraction of the site is they're relatively unmonitored and unrestricted, much like Napster used to be."
Although YouTube would disagree, Forbes said a significant portion of the content on the site goes against copyright laws. "If you're not careful to make the transition, the site will die and you'll have alternatives crop up very quickly."

kilo_4que

The only thing google are interested in are traffic and dominance. For a start Youtube is amongst the best for traffic at this moment in time and Google can afford to buy them out. Personally i think the price is rediculous but hey, google cant be that stupid.

The other point is dominance, google are prepared to buy out anyone that is dominating niche markets online and want to be known as the biggest online organisation.

But the funniest thing to this whole series of events is the guys that started it.

There were infact three guys who started it, Chad, "dick", and another lad called Javad or something. In the early days of Youtube i.e. under a year ago, The dude called Javad decided on giving the project a break and went off to get himself a degree whilst the other two continued working on it.

I bet he feels like killing himself now that his partners are bagging a pay cheque so big that theyll never be able to finish yet he gets squat all