Is Yahoo! now under the gun after losing YouTube?

It’s Google against Mark Cuban after all, in a rather unique twist on celebrity deathmatch. Well, it’s not that far gone yet, but yesterday afternoon’s announcement that Google would be purchasing #1 video-sharing site YouTube.com in an all-stock transaction was not entirely unexpected. Google will now be the largest provider of online video with its Google Video service and now YouTube.com, although it will be keeping YouTube operating as an independent site with the same content it has now.

Although YouTube sounds like one of the early-day P2P file sharing websites/directories according to Cuban, the company *may* have a bright future in recouping money from advertising, a potential main reason Google bought it. But, what does this linkup have to do with Yahoo? Well, Yahoo! has also been trying to build up its video offerings and has done a great job at that — after all, Yahoo! likes to build customer relationships that make the customer “stick” to the Yahoo! property.

So, this YouTube.com buy is a little like pulling the rug out from under that company’s video efforts in a way. Rumor has it already that Yahoo! and Google fought a close battle all the way to the end to take home the YouTube.com prize, and Google finally prevailed. Now Google has to prove, over time, that this relatively meager all-stock transaction (at today’s prices) will somehow help pad its coffers while not opening Google up to a litany of copyright issues due to all the pirated videos that are up for viewing right now on YouTube.

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