Analysis of YouTube acquisition by Google
THE search engine buys THE video portal … Google + YouTube = Yougle or GooTube or Google Videos. Yes people, the rumors are true and Google has bought out the premier video portal out there and the #2 most visited site on the planet, YouTube for $1.6 Billion in an all stock deal. YouTube investors Sequoia are rumored to take $480 million of this stock portfolio.
According to the Google press release the two companies will continue to work independently and maintain their own brands. “Following the acquisition, YouTube will operate independently to preserve its successful brand and passionate community.“
So why did Google buy out Youtube. How about 20 million reasons or 20 million regular users, the Top 10 site on the net, and 100 million video views a day. The interesting observation coming out this is Google is trying to buy people/ traffic for the first time in its history. Only time will tell how all of this pans out.
Just look at the graph below from Alexa to see the phenomenal growth of YouTube. If you are not convinced then compare that growth to Google Video.
Google itself is already the 3rd busiest site on the internet, and now that it owns YouTube the company has control over a tremendous number of internet users, probably a higher percentage than anyone else!
It is going to be very interesting to see how this all pans out. Video on the internet is a whole new era and we have seen history in the making with this acquisition. If anyone can do something good with YouTube it will be Google.