Google CEO Defends YouTube Purchase

[engine]

Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt said Tuesday that it will take time for the company's recently acquired YouTube online video-sharing service to become a major source of sales and profits for the company.

Speaking at an industry conference, Schmidt also said Google and YouTube are working with big media companies to resolve copyright issues regarding content owned by the media firms that's posted on YouTube without the media firm's consent.

Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt said the company's deal for YouTube is working well but that it will take time for the site to generate meaningful sales and profits.

Google CEO Defends YouTube Purchase [money.cnn.com]

[BillyS]

Personally, I think building a ladder to the moon was a better idea. Might have cost less than $1.5 billion and would be both a tourist attraction as well as a weight loss program.

[mattglet]

Anyone who thought results were going to be quick to show are crazy.

[TinkyWinky]

Will they ever really make this work?

$1.5billion for a site that for most users is about uploading what they like when they like...which will become more and more dependent on agreements and partnership deals - then the users disappear to myspace or facebook or bebo or.....

Recent social 2.0 are gaining massive share within months - not years.

I would have spent cash in lots more ways before buying YT.

IMHO.

[flack47]

I'll bet that Google would have bought Napster if they were a juggernaut back then. . .
"Hey! People are talking about that! Buy it! For the love of all that is holy buy it now!"
I'm pretty sure that's their business acquisition strategy.
It's not too bad of an idea, up to the billion dollar mark. . .

[phranque]

those poor paternally-challenged urchins!
to think they only had $11B left under the mattress when 2006 ended...

[gibbergibber]

-- I'll bet that Google would have bought Napster if they were a juggernaut back then --

That's a very good comparison, it showed just how a site based mainly around piracy can go from the heights of popularity to the depths of obscurity once the copyright holders start getting tough.

[kieranmullen]

What no quote button this forum? Bleh..

---those poor paternally-challenged urchins!
to think they only had $11B left under the mattress when 2006 ended...

Careful google owns urchin.com

[phranque]

What no quote button this forum? Bleh..

you can quote using the correct tag.
check out the style codes [webmasterworld.com] used for this site.

[flack47]

you can quote using the correct tag.
check out the style codes used for this site.

Thanks for that! I've been wondering how everybody does the quotes like that for a while now.
gibber - Thanks for the compliments on the comparison.
Google is giant, but they seem to always stay on the brink of what's ethical and what's theft when it comes to copyright and things like that. It's working for them now, but someday it just might be the needle that bursts the Google bubble. Don't you think?