Google buys YouTube

I didn’t think it would happen, but it did: Google has agreed to buy YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock. The news comes after a cornucopia of press releases announcing Google and YouTube deals to distribute music videos from Universal, Sony, Warner Music, and CBS, paving the way for a relatively risk-free buyout from Google’s perspective.

In the conference call accompanying the press release, the founders of both companies unanimously professed their excitement about the deal, saying that it’s a great fit on many different levels. Eric Schmidt said that it was about vision, not about business, and that the YouTube guys reminded him of the early days of Google. Sergei Brin added that video content is certainly information, so the acquisition fits with Google’s stated mission of organizing all the world’s info.

Full story: Ars Technica