The Google/YouTube acquisition rumors developed quickly over the last few days. After our initial post discussing the rumor, the WSJ (behind a paywall) and the NY Times quickly followed up with their own articles. Neither publication contacted me, and I have no idea who their sources are.
Speculation went from there. For example, LeeAnn Prescott at Hitwise published data showing just how much bigger YouTube is compared to Google Video (LeeAnn also noted that Google could easily build a YouTube clone). And Mark Cuban continues to state that the deal makes no sense.
Other media are now stating that a deal is imminent. Whether its happening or not, this seems to be THE topic of conversation in Silicon Valley right now.
We don’t have any additional verified information, other than a bizarre story Marshall Kirkpatrick was tracking and that developed on Friday and Saturday. We got word that a lawyer representing Google may have told at least one person that the “deal has officially gone through.” The person who was supposedly told this then sent an email out to a number of people summarizing the conversation, which we got wind of. I spoke to the attorney, who denied having “any knowledge of the deal” or making that statement. I also spoke to the person who wrote the email, who backtracked and stated that he exaggerated the lawyer’s statements, and that, in short, the email he wrote wasn’t true. At that point Marshall and I decided to drop it. But I will say this – the fact that the lawyer repeately told me that he had no knowledge of a deal instead of “no comment” means he was either lying (unlikely), that a deal is happening and he doesn’t know about it (unlikely), or that there is no deal. We’ll see.