"Internet search leader Google Inc. is in talks to acquire the popular online video site YouTube Inc. for about $1.6 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Mountain View-based Google and San Mateo-based YouTube are still at a sensitive stage in the discussion, the newspaper reported on its Web site.
The blog TechCrunch had reported on rumors of the acquisition talks. Representatives from Google and YouTube did not immediately return calls to The Associated Press.
Founded in February 2005 by three former employees of eBay Inc.'s PayPal electronic-payment unit, YouTube is surging thanks to the increased availability of high-speed Internet connections and gadgets such as camera phones and digital cameras capable of taking video. Most of YouTube offerings are short amateur clips, although professional filmmakers and even television networks have posted materials.
YouTube users watch more that 100 million videos daily, and the site's market share tops that of similar services offered by Google and other popular Web sites, according to some research firms." {Associated Press}

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