Well, that happened quickly. Google has announced it is buying video-sharing website YouTube in a $1.65 billion share deal. The two companies confirmed that they had reached agreement regarding the acquisition yesterday, after that previously reported speculation in the weekend press that takeover talks between the two were in full swing. Google say the two companies will, for the time being at least, continue to operate independently, with Google's own video service continuing to co-exist alongside YouTube - though I can't see that really being the case long term.
Confirming the deal, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that the two companies were "natural partners", adding: "The YouTube team has built an exciting and powerful media platform that complements Google's mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful".
YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, who will stay on in his current role at the company, added: "Our community has played a vital role in changing the way that people consume media, creating a new clip culture. By joining forces with Google, we can benefit from its global reach and technology leadership to deliver a more comprehensive entertainment experience for our users and to create new opportunities for our partners."
The takeover announcement followed other news yesterday that both YouTube and Google had reached deals with different major record and media companies regarding the tricky issue of the amount of copyright content that appears, until now illegally, on the two video clip services.
Universal Music, which had indicated it may sue YouTube over its illegal distribution of its video content, has reached a deal with the service as has US TV network CBS. Meanwhile Google announced it had signed distribution deals with both SonyBMG and Warner Music, the latter having already entered into a relationship with YouTube. The exact specifics of those deals are not known, except that it will include some kind of ad revenue share and, in the case of Google, the option to up sell pay-to-view content via Google's Video Store alongside free video.