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October 13, 2006
Google buys YouTube Peter's Verdict
Well I've had a few days to think about it, here is what I think about Google buying YouTube: For both companies it is mostly win-win.
The YouTube guys get a ton of money and let somebody else deal with copyright issues. (I guess they got a DNA transplant.)Google gets a better video source than Google video and stays on the cutting edge.
Google, unlike YouTube has leverage to deal with lawsuits, after all Google drives a lot of traffic to the sites of those who wish to sue.
YouTube also gets the technical and ad strength of Google. This is a huge win for both companies.
The only drawback for them I can see is that now people wanting to sue have a really big target.
For the user particular the ones concerned about censorship on the web it is a likely a big loss. YouTube has been rather ideological concerning what it censors and what it doesn't, and as we've documented Google does have a history of giving in to dictators.
The bright side to all of that is that the YouTube restrictions are "free market", being done by the company rather than under pressure from a government. This means that if somebody wants to pony up servers and space they can choose to go up against them, perhaps in hand in hand with a Dogpile or a Yahoo.
Anyway it's a look into the future and in my opinion a smart move on all sides. It now remains for the products to integrate wisely.
Posted by Peter at October 13, 2006 05:17 PM