Assuming this is true, YouTube would be utterly foolish not to jump at a deal. Copyright issues are about to become a brobdingnagian headache for them, and while YouTube isn’t going anywhere soon, the removal of copyrighted material from the site (from straightforward clips like this 60 Minutes report about Google to creative mashups like this Beatles clip) would significantly diminish their overall appeal and traffic … and, as a result, their market value. As Wreckless Eric famously sang: take the cash!

OCTOBER 9 UPDATE: Done deal at $1.65 billion in stock. Not too shabby.

OCTOBER 10 UPDATE: YouTube founders Chad and Steve speak to the users who made them wealthy.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 7th, 2006 at 6:00 am and is filed under Internet Stuff, Marketing Stuff.