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Only a 'Moron' Would Buy YouTube

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the moronic-like-a-fox dept.

ColinPL writes to mention a News.com article about some harsh words from Mark Cuban, on the possible purchase of video-sharing site YouTube. According to Mr. Cuban only a 'moron' would buy the site, because of the obvious possibility of lawsuits over intellectual property. From the article: "Cuban, co-founder of HDNet and owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, also said YouTube would eventually be 'sued into oblivion' because of copyright violations. 'They are just breaking the law,' Cuban told a group of advertisers in New York. 'The only reason it hasn't been sued yet is because there is nobody with big money to sue ... There is a reason they haven't yet gone public, they haven't sold. It's because they are going to be toasted,'"

7 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Not to mention... by Un+pobre+guey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not to mention the fact that their business model seems to lack a revenue stream.

    1. Re:Not to mention... by truthsearch · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Google is testing pay-per-play video advertisements. Once Google figures out the best way to advertise on the web with video YouTube and others will quickly find advertisers and integrate video advertisements into their sites.

      --
      Developers: We can use your help.
  2. risk taking by Phantom+of+the+Opera · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you want to really succeed, you have to take risks.

    Anyone suing U-Tube would be taking the risk of losing the lawsuit and setting a precident.

  3. Re:Mr. Cuban by beckerist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't this the guy that started broadcast.com, that was later bought by Yahoo! for billions of dollars? I'd think he'd probably know a thing or two about this.........

  4. He's just jealous... by DeepCerulean · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Let's see. News Corporation is a publicly traded company. News Corporation owns MySpace. Rupert Murdoch says one of MySpace's goals isto take the market lead in online video from privately held YouTube in the next 60 to 70 days. Granted, I'm not a Murdoch fan, and I'm not going to contend that he's not a "moron", but do you really think News Corp. would push this if they thought they were going to get the pants sued off of them?

  5. Re:Yes and no. by mixmasta · · Score: 4, Insightful

    because they steal from the little guy, rather than the big guy.

    --
    #6495ED - cornflower blue
  6. $1.5b too low. One Word: by mugnyte · · Score: 4, Insightful


      Commercials.

    As soon as YouTube places commercials in front of their vids, even if they cookie them to just 1 per hour per viewer, the money will be flooding in.

    Here's why: YouTube's content review and tagging system for searches, plus their popularity and "stars" rating systems are perfect metadata for targeted ads. Not "somewhat fuzzily targeted" based on collected trends but directly. That car. That skateboard. THAT song. Learn THAT trick. Go to THAT place. All for sale "HERE".

    People won't stand for too many, but tuned right the loss of viewers from annoyance versus the revenue from commercials' simple brainwashing techniques (think of commercials as competing social memes) will balance.