Google buys YouTube for $1.65 billion
Search engine giant Google announced on Monday that it will acquire the video sharing phenomenom YouTube for $1.65 billion (appx. €1.31 billion).
YouTube, which was found in February, 2005, became rapidly a global phenomenom, representing the "Web 2.0" ideology where users generate all the content available on the site. The site didn't exactly offer anything new or ground-breaking in terms of video sharing, but it managed to merge the ease of use and the "Web 2.0" in a way that attracted millions of users right from the beginning.
Google quickly tried to emulate YouTube's service with its own Google Video, launched initially in April, 2005 and later expanded to allow watching videos via browser in June, 2005. But as rare as it is for Google, the service was left to become the "number two" in video sharing business.
Google will pay the $1.65 billion in stock, even tho company sits on a cash pile worth more than $10 billion. Since the initial rumors about the acquisition started spreading late last week, Google's valuation has grown by more than $4 billion -- three times the price it agreed to pay for YouTube.
