Price: $1.65 billion
Announced: October 2006
FTC Approval: November 2006
The video giant wed the search giant in late 2006 to mostly positive feedback. Analysts noted the move, though expensive, gave Google "a leader in two of the big three, email, search, and video," as Goldman Sachs wrote in a report from the time of the announcement. The biggest concern experts had at the time of the sale? How Google would address copyright concerns with the user-driven video site. Google has managed to deal with such copyright issues successfully, while keeping YouTube relevant and looking forward. Corollary purchases such as On2 will allow Google to continue to innovate -- and make more money -- from the site.
NEXT: 2. DoubleClick
