Sony acquired the profitless YouTube clone Grouper for $65 million. In the process, Sony has actually bloated the value of the world’s largest video sharing venture YouTube.
There had been many speculations whether YouTube is worth the billion dollars that many think it will sell for. Now with one stroke, Sony has vindicated the pundits that YouTube is indeed worth that much. Sixty-five million dollars for a company that owns less than 1% of online video sharing market that has no profits to show whatsoever is huge amount by Web 2.0 standards. So, if that is the real worth of a company like Grouper, then one can easily imagine that with 43% of the market and some ad revenues to show, YouTube is worth over a billion dollars. Besides, we must not forget that when it comes to online video sharing, there is no bigger brand name than YouTube today.
Aram Sinnreich, Managing Partner, RadarResearch referring to 2001 comedy flick Zoolander said;
The viral video space is so hot right now; it’s like Hansel from the movie Zoolander. I wouldn’t be surprised to see (online video market leader) YouTube receive a bid of $1 billion. Whether the company is worth it is another question.Yes, YouTube may or may not be worth that much. However, with the hype surrounding some big Web 2.0 names, someone might well pay that much if not a few dollars more than the coveted billion-dollar mark.
Via: CNET News
