Google Stock: YouTube Makes The Competition Work Hard (GOOG) – Seeking Alpha

pressureUA/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) acquired YouTube for just $1.65 billion in October 2006 and this turned out to be an incredible investment. Of course it would have been even more impressive if they would have done it with cash instead of stock. In a perfect world, they would have used some of the $3.5 billion in cash and $7.7 billion in marketable securities from the 2006 balance sheet but that’s splitting hairs. My thesis is that YouTube makes competitors work extremely hard. Young Online Users An August Pew Research Center article shows that 95% of U.S. teens use YouTube compared to 67% for TikTok, 62% for Instagram (META), 59% for Snapchat (SNAP) and 32% for Facebook: Teen users (Pew Research Center) The same article shows that 60% of U.S. teens are on YouTube at least several times a day: Teen usage (Pew Research Center) An August HubSpot (HUBS) post shows that YouTube is used as product discovery by 56% of Gen Z, 54% of Millennials, 48% of Gen X, and 26% of Boomers. YouTube naturally appeals to young viewers but other online platforms have to make large investments to bring in young audiences. Facebook gained…
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