Well the rumours were true and Google have announced that they are to acquire YouTube for $1.65 billion.
This makes the News Corp acquisition of MySpace for $580 million earlier this year look small. At the time, everyone was slating the price, saying it was too much, and now whats it worth?
As Scoble pointed out, create something really unique, with a passionate user base, that increases the user-value as it grows, and thats worth something.
One of the crucial things that YouTube has over MySpace and Bebo, is its global coverage - from my perspective anyway, it seems to have a hold on its market, on both sides of the Atlantic, whereas MySpace is big USA and Bebo big in Western Europe.
And as Scoble also points out, Google have now ensured that both Microsoft and Yahoo don't have YouTube, and that too is worth something big in trying to stay ahead of the game.
With YouTubes current negotiaions with several Movie labels, this is sure to a) increase its value even more in a short space, and b)make it difficult for the likes of MS to compete with it.
Also very interesting that Google plan to maintain the YouTube brand to ensure user loyalty - are Google suggesting that they are having issues with user loyalty / trust? ;)
Anyway, its all interesting stuff...!
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