Rupert Murdoch famously claimed that Google could have purchased MySpace for half of the $580 million he paid for it but the search engine passed — if he’s to be believed. Assume, however, he’s telling the truth and that Google miscalculated badly in passing on MySpace. They then went on to do the $900 million ad deal with News Corp./Fox.
They wouldn’t have had to make those sorts of pricey commitments had they bought the social networking site for the $290 million and owned all that traffic themselves.
Is Google‘s reported pursuit of YouTube then an implied “mea culpa” of sorts and a recognition, informed by hindsight, that the company can’t let another similar opportunity pass?
Screenwerk 
October 8, 2006 at 12:29 pm
When I read your first graph or so in my RSS reader, I thought this post was heading down this path: MySpace founder is suing News Corp for undervaluing the network.
October 9, 2006 at 10:36 pm
[…] And speaking of MySpace, Google reportedly had an opportunity to buy the social networking site and passed. That experience, plus the failure of Google’s own video offering to catch fire made this something they didn’t want to pass up. […]
October 10, 2006 at 12:19 pm
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October 23, 2009 at 3:04 pm
[…] Turning away from that to a “parallel universe” question: what would have happened if Google had bought the social network? […]