for W3c validation

Since everyone else is sharing their thoughts on the Google-YouTube issue, thought I might as well too (even though I’m a little late to the conversation). The Wall Street Journal article added to the credibility of the possibility. $1.6 Billion dollars is a lot of money to pay for a company so susceptible to lawsuits. However, youtube does have a lot of traffic and a great brand name that many people know. Obviously, I’m sure Google is also thinking in terms of keeping it away from Microsoft or Yahoo! in addition to the audience that youtube draws (100 million videos streamed per day). So- is this a good business move for Google? I’m about 60% in favor of the deal from Google’s perspective (100% from Youtube’s perspective). Why not higher? Personally, I think the lawsuits are going to start to pile up VERY quickly if this acquisition occurs. Google has a market value of over $120 billion and about $10 billion in cash on hand, which is sure to bring the copyright lawyers in a hurry. We’ll se how this plays out…it’ll be interesting either way.