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YouTube users could share in ad revenues
Last updated at 12:22pm on 10.10.06
Internet giant Google has bought video-sharing website YouTube in a multi-million pound deal
YouTube users could be paid for their video clips after the popular website was bought by Google for around $1.6bn (£900m).
Those who upload clips will get a slice of advertising revenue on the pages containing their videos.
Google fought off arch-rival Yahoo! in one of the biggest ever Internet deals.
The sale has made instant multimillionaires of creators Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, who launched the site 19 months ago from a California garage.
Up to now the two have been running the company on credit card debts.
Last night's deal is expected to make them instant multi-millionaires and deliver huge windfall's to the company's 67-strong workforce.
YouTube has become one of the most popular sites on the web with more than 100 million video clips viewed every day by an estimated 72 million users.
Clips range from bizarre home videos to snippets of TV shows, music gigs and sports events - many apparently breaching copyright laws.
In recent weeks, several major record companies, including Universal, have signed deals with YouTube to distribute clips and protect the rights of their artists.
Mr Hurley said: "Our community has played a vital role in changing the way that people consume media."
"By joining forces with Google, we can benefit from its global reach and technology leadership to deliver a more comprehensive entertainment experience for our users."
Google chief executive Eric Schmidt plans to turn a profit by adding adverts to the site.
Internet experts suggest that Google's YouTube coup may put pressure on Yahoo to buy Facebook.com, the Internet's second most popular social-networking site.
Yahoo reportedly has offered as much as £790 million for Facebook which is widely used by UK university students, and students across the globe, to post information about themselves and share with friends.
