Larry Page: “I think we should look into acquiring YouTube” (2005)

Re:Larry Page: “I think we should look into acquiring YouTub... by jasode on Sunday September 05, 2021 @11:26AM (#28425027)

>It sounds like they expected it to die on a backroom shelf somewhere if they made the purchase. This seems anti-competitive behavior [...] They didn't see it as valuable for their own needs,

I think you're reading too much conspiracy motive into Larry's terse email.

Based on various interviews, Susan Wojcicki was head of Google Video at the time and she acknowledged they were losing against the upstart Youtube. She originally thought Google Video would succeed because Google was "playing nice" by negotiating legal licenses with broadcasters like NBC whereas Youtube was just a bunch of pirated content.

It was a big risk to acquire Youtube because the Viacom piracy lawsuit was looming. Google decided they could handle it and went ahead with the acquisition. They saw the value in Youtube and didn't have any intention of killing it.

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Re:Larry Page: “I think we should look into acquiring YouTub... by bagacrap on Sunday September 05, 2021 @11:34AM (#28425082)

Actually it seems like gp is reading all the emails that came before Larry's

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Re:Larry Page: “I think we should look into acquiring YouTub... by ineedasername on Sunday September 05, 2021 @12:01PM (#28425294)

Based on these emails, the very first consideration that sparked their interest-- no matter what came later-- was to deny it to their competition or drive up the price.

Just because upon investigation, YouTube actually seemed to have some value does not negate the fact that their first motive was based upon limiting competition.

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