Search Results for: youtube

Google announced early Tuesday that its acquisition of video sharing site YouTube has closed. The mostly stock deal was initially priced at $1.65 billion, although at Monday's closing price of $481.03 per Google share, YouTube walked away with $1.775 billion.

The hefty profit for YouTube investors lies in the calculation of Google's stock value, which was taken as an average over 30 trading days ending on November 9, 2006. 12.5 percent of the stock will be placed in escrow for one year, Google said, in order to secure certain indemnification obligations.

Continue reading →

Verizon is nearing a deal with YouTube to bring the popular video sharing site's content to both mobile phones and televisions, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. But the question arises: what exactly would YouTube be offering, as much of its content is unlicensed.

The deal will center around Verizon Wireless's V-Cast service and Verizon's FiOS television offering, which is continuing to expand around the United States. V-Cast utilizes the carrier's high-speed EVDO network, and enables customers to watch videos and listen to music on their phones.

Continue reading →

Google on Friday received approval from the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to go ahead with its proposed $1.65 billion buyout of popular video sharing site YouTube. No antitrust issues were raised by the agencies.

Although no official announcement was made, the antitrust review was mentioned in the FTC's daily publication of transactions. When the deal was announced last month, Google said it expected it to close before the end of the year. The company plans to keep Google Video as a separate product.

Continue reading →

A group of Japanese content providers has been successful in getting YouTube to remove some 29,549 clips that it claimed were posted without permission, it said Friday. The Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers represents 23 media companies in the country. The group is also calling on the video sharing site to better screen what its users are posting.

In addition to pushing for more stringent oversight, the group also called on the site's users to refrain from posting copyrighted material. YouTube serves more than 100 million videos per day, and content providers have become increasingly vocal in attempting to push the service to better control what its users are posting.

Continue reading →

Google has agreed to purchase popular video sharing site YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock, the two companies announced after the close of the stock market Monday. The deal marks the largest acquisition for Google in the company's eight-year history.

A potential deal had been rumored since late last week, prompting surprise from a number of industry watchers who failed to see what Google would gain from the purchase. However, the search giant says it will unite YouTube with its online advertising platform.

Continue reading →

YouTube said it had signed content deals with three companies Monday, including one television network and two record labels. The new agreements come less than a month after the social video site penned an agreement with Warner Music Group to stream its content.

One of the companies YouTube came to terms with, Vivendi Universal, had apparently threatened to sue the site last month. However, it appears the two sides have put their differences aside, and the French-owned music label joined Sony BMG and the CBS television network in announcing the partnership Monday.

Continue reading →

The rumor mill heated up with acquisition talks again on Friday, as reports began to surface that Google is in talks with popular video site YouTube. Sources told the Wall Street Journal that Google could pay around $1.6 billion for the startup.

Speculation surrounding YouTube's future is nothing new. The company has been bleeding money as it struggles to find a sustainable revenue model to cover its massive bandwidth costs, and an entrenched suitor like Yahoo or Google could give it a way out. However, copyright infringement issues could stall any buyout, as much of YouTube's content has been uploaded without permission.

Continue reading →

Hoping to target a young audience, the U.S. Government has turned to YouTube to educate young people about the dangers of drugs.

For some, the addition of anti-drug messages may seem comical, especially considering the government's videos could sit alongside others whose message would so obviously contradict what the White House is trying to say. However, government officials would beg to differ.

Continue reading →

From video blogs to lonelygirl15, broadband has ushered in an era of viral video that has surprised an industry. User-created clips on YouTube and Google Video reach millions of screens each day and now Microsoft wants a piece of the action with "Soapbox."

An expansion of its current MSN Video site, Soapbox enables users to upload their own videos much like current offerings from Microsoft competitors. Aside from market leaders YouTube and Google, AOL recently launched "UnCut" and social networking giant MySpace now supports video uploads.

Continue reading →

Depending on which music label you talk to, YouTube is either a friend or foe. The company on Monday said it had reached an agreement with Warner Music to stream music videos, behind-the-scenes footage, artist interviews and original programming. Contrast this with Universal, which apparently threatened to sue the video-sharing site last week.

The deal with Warner is expansive; not only does it include the rights to stream video content from the fourth-largest record label, but it would also give rights to users to incorporate Warner music into the videos they create and upload. Revenue from advertising appearing on pages with Warner music would be shared, YouTube said.

Continue reading →

CBS ruled out a purchase of social video site YouTube Thursday, although its chief executive said it would not rule out the purchase of a smaller competitor. CEO Les Moonves said at a meeting of television executives in London that the U.S. network is in the market to buy so-called "new media" ventures.

Rumors of a possible deal between YouTube and CBS began to swirl when the CBS executive was spotted talking to YouTube founder Chad Hurley. However, the social video site's asking price is probably much higher than the network is willing to pay - it is rumored the company was looking for $1 billion.

Continue reading →

YouTube disclosed Tuesday that it has plans to eventually offer music videos from the service in an effort to continue growing its already booming user base. The site is currently in negotiations with the major music labels, and will offer the videos at no charge to users when and if the service launches.

YouTube has essentially come from nowhere to become one of the top 50 most visited sites on the Web according to Web analytics firm comScore. The site is now the 40th most visited site with 16 million users during the month of July, a 20 percent increase over the previous month.

Continue reading →

Social video site YouTube said it had signed a deal with NBC Tuesday that will bring promos of the networks prime time lineup to the site this fall. Also expected to debut on YouTube are Internet exclusives, as well as behind-the-scenes content.

An official NBC channel would be created on YouTube that will house all NBC-related programming. Exclusive content from "The Office" will be the first to appear, followed by content from "Saturday Night Live," "The Office," and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

Continue reading →

Just a day after Yahoo relaunched its video site to better compete in the viral video market, YouTube shot back Friday by introducing new features of its own. Users would now be able to create "channels," where they can aggregate either their own content, or that of others.

Other users would be able to subscribe to these channels, which can be created through the user profile feature. "Now all content creators and collectors, be it professional filmmakers, videobloggers or just people who love Chihuahuas can broadcast videos from their channel for all the world to see," YouTube's Maryrose Dunton said.

Continue reading →

Further expanding its repertoire of online services as it moves away from subscription revenues, AOL is beta testing a new video hosting service it calls UnCut. The offering appears strikingly similar to YouTube, which has surged into the mainstream as the most popular destination for video on the Web.

Users can upload videos of up to 5 minutes in length to AOL UnCut, which then converts the content into the Flash 8 format like YouTube. Promoting the community aspect of the site, videos can be rated, commented on and shared by users.

Continue reading →