Despite the acquisition, Google planned to continue with its own service for uploading and sharing video. "Google Video is a valuable part of the Google experience and is not going away," Schmidt said.
Under the deal, YouTube would operate independently and its headquarters would remain in San Bruno, Calif. All of its employees would remain with the company.
The number of Google shares to be issued in the transaction would be determined on the 30-day average closing price two trading days prior to the completion of the acquisition. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year.
YouTube claims to serve up 100 million videos per day, with more than 65,000 being uploaded daily.
Worldwide traffic to YouTube grew nearly 2,500 percent from August 2005 to August 2006 to 72 million visitors, according to ComScore Networks. In August of this year, Google ranked as the third most visited Internet property with more than 468 million visitors. YouTube ranked 14th. Combined, the two companies would have a worldwide reach of 477 million visitors.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
