Kamla Bhatt

Is Google going to buy YouTube? At least that is what the buzz is all about in the media.  Will there be a GoogleTube?

According to UK’s TimesOnline :

“Google is rumored to be in talks to buy YouTube, the video sharing website, for around $1.6 billion.

The leader in search advertising, Google is known to regard video as a crucial area for its future. It already has its own Google Video site, but still trails YouTube, which recently announced that it shows 100 million videos a day, by a large margin … The two companies are already linked by their choice in venture capital backing. YouTube was launched in February last year by Chad Hurley, 29, and has raised at least $11.5 million (£6.1 million) from Sequoia Capital, the venture capital firm that backed Google. It is estimated that Sequoia invested $12.5 million in Google and that its stake in the online search engine was worth $1.5 billion when it floated in 2004 … Microsoft recently entered the video sharing arena with its Soapbox site. Rumours are also circulating that Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom are preparing a YouTube competitor under the codename “The Venice Project”. Reports have suggested the site will focus on professionally produced content. “

The Google + YouTube M&A talk was first reported by TechCrunch.

The video space is sure heating up quite a bit. Google’s own foray into video has not met with much success. Google Video was launched in early January 2006 at the CES in Las Vegas with great fanfare.