谷歌10大收購案大起底
10.視頻壓縮技術公司On2 收購金額:1.33億美元 宣布時間:2009年8月 聯邦貿易委員會批準時間:2010年1月 ????On2 Technologies公司推出過視頻壓縮技術Theora和視頻編解碼器VP8,它們都是在線流媒體的高性能視頻編解碼器。這筆收購完成后,自由軟件基金會(Free Software Foundation)立刻呼吁谷歌公司(Google)對VP8進行開源。當時,谷歌已將Adobe Flash用于其另一個著名的收購對象——Youtube上的視頻。 ????事實證明,收購On2公司對谷歌開拓視頻領域的努力至關重要。當年5月,谷歌就對VP8做了開源,將其作為其媒體文件格式WebM的重要組成部分。當谷歌的競爭對手微軟公司(Microsoft)已允許其新收購的對象Skype在其所有視頻電話中轉用WebM時,YouTube正在其新視頻和已有視頻中轉用WebM。 |
10. On2 Technologies Price: $133 million Announced: August 2009 FTC Approval: January 2010 ????On2 Technologies made Theora and VP8, high performance video codecs for online streaming. After the purchase, the Free Software Foundation immediately called for Google to open-source VP8. It had used Adobe Flash for the videos on another notable acquisition -- YouTube. ????On2's purchase has proven crucial to Google's video efforts. Google did open-source VP8 that May as a crucial piece of its video format, WebM. YouTube is switching over to WebM for both new videos and its existing catalog, while Google's rival Microsoft has allowed its own new acquisition, Skype, to switch to WebM for all its video calls. |
9.視頻技術商WideVine Tech
收購金額:1.5億美元 宣布時間:2010年12月 聯邦貿易委員會批準情況:無須批準 ????WideVine是一家視頻優化公司,也是最后一批主要的獨立數字版權管理者之一。《財富》雜志(Fortune)的記者丹?普利馬克今年2月曾發表報道,稱該公司的收購價嚴重偏高,因為據公司的一位投資者表示,其內部估值在3,000萬到4,000萬美元之間。(谷歌稱無法確認收購價格,也沒有公開披露過相關細節。) ????不管價格如何,業內專家都將這一收購視為谷歌公司在谷歌電視(Google TV)上持續投資的一部分,因為通過收購獲得的數字版權管理(DRM)技術可緩解未來這一服務將涉及的授權問題。作為反盜版的堅決擁護者,WideVine的數字版權管理業務還能挖掘YouTube上高級(即付費)內容的潛力。正如對On2的收購那樣,一樁收購直接應用到另一樁收購中了。 |
9. WideVine Tech Price: $150 million Announced: December 2010 FTC Approval: No approval required ????WideVine was a video optimizer and one of the last major independent digital rights managers. Fortune's own Dan Primack reported in February that the company had seriously overpaid given an internal valuation of between $30 or $40 million, according to a WideVine investor. (Google said it could not confirm numbers on acquisitions for which it has not publicly released details.) ????Whatever the price, industry experts saw the purchase of WideVine as part of the company's continued investment in Google TV since the DRM tech acquired through WideVine could assuage future licensing concerns over the service. As an anti-piracy stalwart, WideVine's DRM operations also open up the potential for premium (read: paid) content on YouTube. As with On2, one acquisition fed directly into another. |