Google announced yesterday that they have bought Youtube for $165 billion dollars in stock. This has been called one of the most important deals in this decade, paving the way for video online in the future. (Official press release here.)
Mark Cuban has a unique perspective on the deal, saying that it is not something that GOOG should have been done; there are huge copyright issues involved, and they’d better figure out how they’re going to deal with copyright infringement or there are going to be consequences.
It will be interesting to see what happens next and what happens in the copyright world…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…
The best part of Youtube is the copyrighted videos–the ones that are homemade and that’s why I frequent the site. The problem is that if I post my video there and GOOG profits from it then I want some of that income.
The next best part of Youtube is the copyrighted video clips that come from the news (i.e., Bill Clinton’s recent interview on network TV).
If GOOG does anything to control the copyright (which they’ll have to keep from getting sued) then they’re going to have to ruin the best part of Youtube. Look at what happened to Napster.
The face and content of Youtube is going to change to be more like itunes–all Sony/Warner/NBC professionally made videos–no more copyrighted videos.
Of course, GOOG had to buy Youtube to keep it out of the hands of others (like Y!, MSN, etc.). It was a great move.
Maybe the best part is that this deal paves the way for Contextual Video. More blog posts about the GOOG/YouTube deal:
Google Has Acquired YouTube
Google/YouTube Conference Call
Google’s YouTube deal leaves Microsoft on its own
Google, YouTube, and the future of video on the Web
Google-YouTube is Done – Who Cares
Details of the Google-YouTube deal