Google buys out YouTube

Web search leader Google has agreed to acquire top video entertainment site YouTube for $A2.2 billion in stock, putting a lofty new value on consumer-generated media sites.

The deal, the first to value one of the new crop of user-participation web sites at more than $US1 billion, combines two of the most popular Internet brands: Google - synonymous with web search and rapid innovation - and YouTube - a Silicon Valley upstart that has spearheaded the video-sharing craze.

In anticipation of the acquisition, investors pushed shares of Google up $US8.50 or 2 per cent on the Nasdaq on Monday to a closing price of $US429.00 - a level not seen since late April.

In extended-hours trade following the announcement of the deal, Google stock dipped to $US427.63.

The stock had already gained about 2 per cent on Friday when reports emerged that a Google-YouTube deal was in the works.

In the past two trading days, Google has added nearly $US4 billion in market capitalisation, or more than twice what the company has agreed to pay YouTube.

Analysts say the acquisition of YouTube by Google will thrust the web search leader quickly into the emerging market for video advertising, where it has only a tiny foothold compared with Yahoo and various Web start-ups.

YouTube says it serves about 100 million videos daily and has drawn scrutiny from major media companies for copyrighted material appearing on its pages without their consent.

In a move that appears to pre-empt the threat of legal action against YouTube, Universal Music Group and Sony BMG have signed distribution deals with YouTube, following a similar agreement with Warner Music Group last month.

- Reuters

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1759238.htm

Google is just getting bigger and bigger.  What next?  Microsoft perhaps?  

Woah go google!

Hmmm what has not been thought of yet out there in this Internet World that I  can start up and sell for big dollars in a few years time ... first News Corporation (Rupert Murdoch) buys out MySpace for AU $780 million in July and now Google buys out YouTube for AU $2.2 billion.

Puts on thinking cap  

Quoted from AussieMaddog

... Puts on thinking cap  

you could buy out Eblah!

I'll follow that train of thought from Paula and take a pre - emptive stab in the dark so excuse my liberty here. Putting aside the founders of google and focusing on Dr. Eric Schmidt and his associations.

Schmidt is currently the Chairman of the Executive Committee and Chief Executive Officer  within Google. he has held Executive positions within Novell and Sun micro ( Java) and Bel labs.

since Novell - network software
and Java - networking
Bell Laboratories (Networking modems)

It stands to reason the Google is heading down the path of Networking so watch this space for

gogmodems and firewallgog  and mybe they might even head in the take over for gogo mobile.

Google Is Evil

Where did that line of thinking come from, Norman  ???

How is google evil?

OMG LawnB your avatar has a girl sitting down and eyes watching her.. I thought that was a nose! I just realised!

Quoted from dara

OMG LawnB your avatar has a girl sitting down and eyes watching her.. I thought that was a nose! I just realised!

It is a piccy from the Broken saints DVD.........pretty cool...

Oh ok!!
Am I right?

Dara Posted: August 25th, 2006, 9:01pm
ROFL! I thought it was a crooked nose!!!! LMAO!

i'll buy out EBLAH :p

Dara gets a little delusional at times, lamao too! I think the girl is in a long dress and standing up, myself. For the life of me though Dara I don't know how you get a crooked nose from that! More like deformed if that were the case. Heheheheh

Lol the red eyes and then it loooked like a nose

i cant c nething lol

Cliff Kimber, Google's Managing Director of operations in SE Asia denies that YouTube will replace regular TV.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1797654.htm

Google adds website registry to online software

Google has got into the website registry business as the Internet juggernaut set out to add momentum to its free online software offerings.

Google teamed with domain registry firms GoDaddy.com and eNom to create an application that enables people to claim their own .com, .net, .org, or .info realms for a cost of $US10 annually.

Google Apps for Your Domain was billed as a streamlined way for people to host web addresses personalised with their names, hobbies, interests or pithy wordplay.

"Now you've got one-stop shopping ... just find a domain, buy it, and get started," Google software engineer Costin Manolache wrote in a company blog.

"We'll do all the behind-the-scenes configuration work for you."

GoDaddy and eNom are leading domain registration services in a packed market.

The alliance was part of Google's strategy of offering people free online use of software programs for writing, accounting, email and more.

The approach, considered a "Web 2.0" trend, liberates people from having to buy, install and maintain software on their computers.

Google cashes in by selling online advertising targeted at those lured to the website by its host of free applications.

- AFP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200612/s1813071.htm

Google might be a tad concerned it bought YouTube.  


Google, YouTube face $US1b lawsuit

Entertainment giant Viacom Media says it will sue online search engine Google and its video-sharing website, YouTube, for more than $US1 billion.

Viacom, which owns MTV and Nickelodeon, says YouTube uses its shows illegally.

Viacom alleges that about 160,000 unauthorised clips of its programs have been loaded onto YouTube's site and viewed more than 1.5 billion times.

Google says it is confident YouTube has respected the legal rights of copyright holders.

"We will certainly not let this suit become a distraction to the continuing growth and strong performance of YouTube," Google said in a statement.

The lawsuit accuses Google and its popular online video unit of "massive intentional copyright infringement", threatening its ambitions to turn YouTube into a major distributor of entertainment and outlet for advertising.

Sumner Redstone-controlled Viacom has been the most vocal critic of YouTube as it sought to negotiate payment for use of its media programming.

Viacom says the decision to sue Google follows "a great deal of unproductive negotiation".

"YouTube's strategy has been to avoid taking proactive steps to curtail the infringement on its site, thus generating significant traffic and revenues for itself while shifting the entire burden - and high cost - of monitoring YouTube onto the victims of its infringement," Viacom said in a statement.

YouTube does not prevent copyrighted content from being uploaded onto its site but it will take material down if contacted by copyright owners.

NBC Universal and News Corporation have also criticised YouTube's copyright protection policies but stopped short of taking legal action.

Viacom filed the suit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking an injunction against further violations, as well as damages.

Shares in Viacom gained 1.25 per cent to $US40.07 and Google shares slipped 1.25 per cent to $US449.07 in morning trading in the US.

- BBC/Reuters

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1871033.htm

Google calls for internet privacy standards

The world's leading internet search engine, Google, has called for global standards to be set to govern privacy on the web.

Internet users provide companies like Google with huge amounts of personal information, from credit card details to photographs, and privacy campaigners say internet companies are too lax in handling such data.

A spokesman for Google says most countries offer their citizens no internet privacy protection at all and it is time international standards are agreed as in other fields, such as trade and aviation.

- BBC

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/14/2033619.htm?section=justin

Google takes aim at Wikipedia
December 15, 2007 09:50am

GOOGLE is building its own version of communally-constructed online encyclopedia Wikipedia, to rival what is one of the world's most visited websites.

The internet search powerhouse is inviting chosen people to test a free service dubbed "knol", to indicate a unit of knowledge, vice-president of engineering Udi Manber said today in a posting at Google's website.

"Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it," Mr Manber wrote.

"There are millions of people who possess useful knowledge that they would love to share, and there are billions of people who can benefit from it."

While Wikipedia lets visitors make changes to its online pages, trusting that people with accurate information will correct errors and misleading entries, Google is inviting people to author their own articles.

Pictures of authors will be displayed on their knol web pages, according to a sample provided by Google.

"We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content," Mr Manber wrote.

"Books have authors' names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors; but somehow the web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors' names highlighted."

Google hopes knols will be written on all conceivable topics and says it has no plans to edit or endorse content. Editorial responsibility will rest with authors, whose reputations will be at stake, according to Mr Manber.

While Wikipedia merges topic entries in single articles, knols written on the same subjects will remain separate and "compete" for the attention of visitors, who will be able to give online feedback.

Knol authors will have the option of letting Google post ads on their pages and sharing in the revenues.

Google is the world's most used internet search engine and a proven master at mining revenue from online advertising targeted at those making queries and using its free web-based services.

Luring Wikipedia users to its own community-created online encyclopedia promises to be another rich vein of ad income for the search giant.

More than a third of US internet users consult Wikipedia, according to findings released earlier this year by The Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Wikipedia is consistently ranked among the world's top 10 most popular websites by internet research firms Hitwise and comScore.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22928499-5006301,00.html

Apart from searching I stay away from google and their plans for world domination.


It's funny that everytime Microsoft bring out a new version of Windows or Office everyone says "It's just cause they want more money" but Google go from a search engine to an online office solution and it high fives all round...........

Dear me...

Real estate agents launch defamation action against Google

Two Victorian real estate agents have launched a defamation action against the search engine company Google.

Counsel for agents Mark Forytarz and Paul Castran of Castran Gilbert, appeared in the Supreme Court today for a directions hearing, alleging their clients have been defamed by articles found via Google searches.

The plaintiffs claim the articles suggest Mr Forytarz bullied an intellectually disabled man into selling his home in order to claim a commission of at least $200,000.

It is claimed the article paints Mr Forytarz as unscrupulous and unethical and he suffered distress embarrassment and humiliation as a result.

They also claim another article alleges Mr Castran used dummy bidders to inflate the prices of the properties he sold.

They claim they asked Google to remove links to the articles late last year, but no effective action was taken.

They will return to court in March.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/08/2158300.htm

He won't win.  He can't win against Google for something somebody else wrote or posted on the web.

It IS however, giving him free publicity  for this beat-up. .  

That really gets me that google wants to take on Wikipedia.  Wikipedia is a community thing whereby users duke it out and come to whatever compromise, or endlessly argue, about what gets included and what's considered of good enough referance to be taken as fact.  Under it's current liscece http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License Google just needs to use their google cache of the wikipedia and rip it off then start making the claim that google's referance is better because it is researched and doesn't include disputed things, the articles don't change or get vandalised etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License
Google was actually founded on, and at one time very much prided themselves for using, open source and copyleft stuff.  Taking on the Wikipedia is a slap in the face to the gentle giants who's shoulders they stood on to get where they are.

Google hints at making mobile phone
Posted 6 hours 8 minutes ago

The internet is buzzing with renewed rumours that Google will make its own smartphone, after the internet powerhouse said it was internally dabbling with a mobile device.

Google workers are trying out a device that "combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities," Google's vice-president of product management, Mario Queiroz, said in a blog post...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/13/2770129.htm

Quoted from Paula

Google hints at making mobile phone
Posted 6 hours 8 minutes ago

The internet is buzzing with renewed rumours that Google will make its own smartphone, after the internet powerhouse said it was internally dabbling with a mobile device.

Google workers are trying out a device that "combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities," Google's vice-president of product management, Mario Queiroz, said in a blog post...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/13/2770129.htm

I think that anything competitive to the iPhone is a good thing if it can bring the prices down over time.  Also I have an idea that I can't really support, that more demand for mobile broadband has the potential to bring broadband prices down over a period of years.

They did "ZOMG" wrong in the article.  It's "zomg" because they got so excited that they hit the letter z instead of the shift key for "OMG".