Google-YouTube Media Frothfest Comes True

So it is. I'm humbled by the rumor-turned-fact.

Google agreed to acquire Internet mega hit video site YouTube for $1.65 billion Monday after close of markets. TechCrunch kicked it all off Friday in what seemed highly speculative at the time. I guess it helps to have friends at Wilson Sonsini to dish dirt, eh?

So I wonder who spilled it? Was it GC David Drummond? Check out his bio for clues. Does this qualify as a leak? Anyway, what do I know. My bets are a legal type spilled this given Google Legal's pedigree and that of a savvy blogger in particular. (OK, so I'm a little bitter and envious.)

Bum tip: Maybe Google could get Sonsini to advise on how to handle some leaks here ...

One wise commentator on CNBC today pointed out that the gain in stock price between Thursday (when he claimed the TV show knew of a rumor) and Monday market increased Google's market cap by $6 billion, essentially allowing them to buy YouTube for free.

It gets better. Analyst find it's possible that this could be a catalyst to drive GOOG stock up to the $500 price target set by some. Not next week, guys. That gives me a flashback to a 20 percent AMZN stock jump the day Internet analyst Henry Blodget issued a report forecasting a $400 price target in twelve months.

Here:
Amazon up 46 points; report "clarified"
The bookseller's soars as high as 301 after a bullish analyst report. He still says the stock will hit 400--but not in one day.

By Dan Mitchell and Scott Martin Staff Writer, CNET News.com -->
Published: December 16, 1998, 12:55 PM PST

update A Wall Street analyst is explaining the bullish report he issued this morning that sent shares of online bookseller Amazon.com soaring more than 46 points by the closing bell.
CIBC Oppenheimer analyst Henry Blodget had released a report forecasting that Amazon's stock would reach 400 in the next 12 months. Traders piled on ...

OK, so 2006 is not all that different from '98. Thus I draw the comparison. And perhaps because of the similarities of now to then, I should have seen that TechCrunch's dirt on Google-YouTube was not all that outrageous. Especially given the heady period of speculative growth that it appears we have returned to. How else do you explain this?

Anyway, hat-tip on the Sonsini goods.