Webloggin » Google may be considering buyout of YouTube

I wonder if this means that we won’t be able to post anti-China video’s either now that anti-jihadi videos appear to be banned on YouTube?

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Internet search leader Google Inc. is in talks to acquire the popular online video site YouTube Inc. for about $1.6 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Mountain View-based Google and San Mateo-based YouTube are still at a sensitive stage in the discussion, the newspaper reported on its Web site.

The blog TechCrunch had reported on rumors of the acquisition talks. Representatives from Google and YouTube did not immediately return calls to The Associated Press. - La Times

TechCrunch doesn’t exactly say what the LA Times says. It is actually states that the rumors exist but are completely unsubstantiated.

Completely Unsubstantiated Google/YouTube Rumor

I got an email tonight about a possible Google acquisition of YouTube that may be in the final stages before closing. Rumored price is $1.6 billion. A quick phone call to a VC confirmed that the rumor is circulating (he also confirmed the price), but that is far from confirmation that this deal is happening. I’m digging for more but the source on this one is very good.

We know that YouTube has had informal talks with a number of companies about acquisition in the $1.5 - $2 billion range. And I suspect Google won’t be daunted by the prospect of dealing with a ton of pissed off copyright holders.

Based on experience with these sort of rumors, I’d put this at 40% likely to be at least partially true.

So there you have it.