• TechCrunch, Friday, October 6, 2006 11:30 AM

TechCrunch scoopmaster Michael Arrington today reports that he received an email that Google is in the final stages of completing a deal to acquire YouTube, the viral video sensation, for $1.6 billion. Arrington says he called a VC source, who confirmed the price and said the rumors are circulating. It has been reported before that YouTube has held informal talks with a number of media companies about an acquisition in the $1.5-$2 billion range. Adds Arrington: "I suspect Google won't be daunted by the prospect of dealing with a ton of pissed off copyright holders. Based on experience with these sort of rumors, I'd put this at 40 percent likely to be at least partially true."

Google, of course, is constantly embroiled in copyright suits. Its plan to digitize the world's books has landed it in court with publishers; it has faced lawsuits regarding the use of newspaper publishers' content on its Google News service, and it has also been sued for allowing advertisers to buy other company's trademarks. Today's rumor comes a week after billionaire investor and dot-com vet Mark Cuban claimed about YouTube, "anyone who buys that is a moron" because of the potential for lawsuits from copyright violations. He said the minute a big company buys the viral video site, it would be "sued into oblivion."

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