Only a MORON would buy YouTube !!
 

Says Billionaire investor and dot-com veteran Mark cuban

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mark Cuban had harsh words on Thursday for YouTube, the online site that lets people share video clips, saying only a "moron" would purchase the wildly popular start-up.


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."

YouTube, based in San Mateo, California, specializes in serving up short videos created by everyday people. Its popularity, with more than 100 million video showings daily, has spurred speculation the firm will be sold or taken public.

But YouTube has also come under scrutiny because users often post copyrighted material, including music videos produced by well-established artists.

YouTube company representatives were not immediately available to respond to Cuban's comments.

Cuban said "anyone who buys that (YouTube) is a moron" because of potential lawsuits from copyright violations.

'GOING TO BE TOASTED'

"There is a reason they haven't yet gone public, they haven't sold. It's because they are going to be toasted," said Cuban, who has sold start-ups to Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) and CompuServe.

YouTube, which has nearly one-third of the U.S. Web video audience, three times that of Google Inc., or twice that of News Corp's MySpace, has been working on signing licensing deals with music companies and TV networks to ensure they are paid when users view their content.

This month YouTube unveiled its first deal to distribute music videos legally from a major music company by agreeing a deal with Warner Music Group, home to pop stars James Blunt and Madonna.

In other remarks, meanwhile, the often-controversial Cuban also told advertisers that the reach of YouTube is limited, particularly when it comes to user-generated videos.

"User-generated content is not going away," he said. "But do you want your advertising dollars spent on a video of Aunt Jenny watching her niece tap dance?"

"Somebody puts up something really good and you get, what, 60,000 viewers?" Cuban added during the event at Advertising Week in New York.

YouTube now offers advertising through banner ads, promotions and sponsorships. It has said it plans to roll out a range of different advertising options over the coming year.

Cuban cautioned advertisers against investing heavily in so-called viral campaigns that are spread by users beyond their initial point of distribution on YouTube or other video sharing sites. But he touted opportunities to run commercials on high-definition television such as his HDNet network.

"What makes viral so special is it's so hard to do. It's so hard to plan. It's hard to stand out," he said, describing 99 percent of money advertisers spend on viral campaigns as "wasted."

"You guys love to be the trailing edge," he said.
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thoughts comments ?

would you buy youtube right now for super cheap like 10k

if youtube was being sold for 10k id buy it lol

mark cuban thinks your an idiot heh...

now you can tell your friends that a billinaire thinks your an idiot heh

* for th record he would think im an idiot too :1orglaugh

10k? In a heartbeat!

can someone show him guba too.

i still see tons and tons of copyrightd shit in their area.

And they get directly paid..

Matt

Nah, with my luck I'd buy it for 10k and then get sued for 10 million.

is this an auction? i bid 10 001

If I were them I would be making people use their own custom video viewer (make them download it to watch vids on youtube).

They could make sooooooo much bank with that. Display advertising for large mainstream advertising while the movies are being played...

At this point it's probably a bit too late, but I can't see youtube getting too much bigger.

DH

The reason why people use youtube is because of it's simplicity. There is no software to install. Users are very wary of that now.

Cuban is a chump, he has a point about youtube, but I bet he'd jump at buying it if he got in earlier.

if I was youtube I would put a 3-8 second ad on the beginning of each video, they could make bank charging companies for that type of ad

Exactly!

There's no way on earth i'd use youtube if I had to install anything and I guarantee that over half of their surfers wouldn't either.

bump so we dont have multiple threads on the same subject :)

I tend to agree with Cuban on the subject matter. What's more interesting is how this applies to Pornotube. Essentially Cuban is saying YouTube is only good for user-generated content because of copyright infringement on material produced by other companies, however, user generated ADULT content is pretty much illegal because of 2257 concerns (how many people will make their own home porn, and actually get 2257). So I don't understand how PornoTube can do what its doing unless of course they loaded the site up with all their own content (which would essentially cannibalize on their VOD model)... They're already being sued by one company... It will be interesting to see how it plays out, but overall I think all YouTube is doing is benefitting from the facilitation letting people steal other people's copyrighted material and watch/listen to it for free while hosting it.

"The only reason it hasn't been sued yet is because there is nobody with big money to sue."

Is this the real reason? If he thinks "nobody has the money" to sue them now, who does he think will have that money in the future? I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people who could sue but choose not to for various reasons, legal costs only being one of them.

To answer your question Smokey, yes if it was for sale for $10k I'd scoop it up.

I think he means there are nobody at YouTube with alot of money at this time, but if some billion dollar company bought YouTube, then lawyers would sue YouTube and its new owner :2 cents:

how about gubba? does anyone care about them?!

even if you'd buy it with 10k
you'd need to have a few millions for the first months hosting

If nobody has money at youtube, how does it remain online? It costs millions to host each month. Could that money not be up for grabs in a lawsuit? (I apologize if I'm showing my ignorance on lawsuits)

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh good one :thumbsup

As long as many paysite owners are neglecting their business and let people put up their content for free on the internet without caring, the succes of these type of sites will keep going on. But one day some smart paysite owners will step up and file lawsuits, and will win them in court. This will result in massive claims that need to be paid out to the paysite owners. From that day on guba and youtube will lose their spunk. They will have to be very carefull, and paysite owners will watch what they are offering like a hawk just hoping to see their content offered so they can sue youtube. They will care now because they know how much money there is to collect.

It's like napster all over again, and it's only a matter of time before these sites will get into trouble.

I respect cuban and his business mind

Hmmm. Cuban makes a good point there. But is Youtube responsible for the content others post there? Can't they add a sneaky line of legal code and get their head out of the sling? I have no clue.

remember what happend with last star wars, i think it was SW, and some torrent services?
something big is gonna come hit youtube before the release date and their behind will be served.

heh some of the comments seem funny looking back now

I would agree!

Also, to make money, they can pull a GFY/Myspace, SKIN YOUTUBE!

that is MAD MAD MAD MAD money right there :1orglaugh :thumbsup

i wonder if cuban knew about the deal and was trying to scare google off

Google paid stunning YouTube price: Time Warner CEO
http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...src=rss&rpc=22

What about the users, They don't profit from thier uploaded videos. I think everyone should get a cut from the 2 billion.

Send out some checks

Those kids are the salesmen of all time....good for them

Mr. Romance

someones jealous that he didnt think of the idea first lol :)

It is not nor ever was the idea. The idea has been around a long time. This one just caught on. It had the right spark and the right timing. It also went so viral it infected mainstream.

The idea itself was and is worthless.

youtube isnt worth that much in my eyes...

With YouTube now being under Google's umbrella perhaps it will garner the same protections Google already has as a "service provider" to be exempt from copyright suits...

And why would anyone bitch about music videos being uploaded? None of them I have seen are anywhere near DVD quality and they are excellent free advertising for the music.

Just a guess, but I would think they own their own servers and pay alot less for their bandwidth than you think.

Google bought youtube 1.6 billion

goggle thinks otherwise

The creator of compuserv is insulting youtube? Have I slipped into some kind of bizarro world?

Youtube owners are laughing all the way to the bank

Google just has so much money they'll buy anything thats hip or cool. I should create a few stupid sites and make them popular to collect my millions.