Google to buy YouTube for $1.65 billion

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Web search leader Google Inc. (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it agreed to acquire top video entertainment site YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion in stock, the highest price yet paid for a consumer-generated media site.

The first deal to value one of the new generation of user-participation Web sites at more than $1 billion combines two of the most popular Internet brands: Google, synonymous with Web search and rapid innovation, and YouTube, a Silicon Valley upstart that has spearheaded the video-sharing craze.

YouTube, which grew in 19 months from a start-up in a garage to now serve 100 million videos daily, has drawn scrutiny from major media companies for copyrighted television and music videos that users post without owner consent.

Source: Reuters