Sony To Buy Video Website Grouper

There's an article in the San Francisco Chronicle saying that Sony is paying $65 Million to acquire the video sharing website Grouper. There have been a few exits of video sharing sites lately. MTV purchased Atom Entertainment, which is much different than Grouper, but demonstrates the many ways large companies are thinking about online video. YouTube seems to be trying to walk a line between video sharing and partnering and it will be fun to watch them as they approach an exit point.

Given that Sony acquired Grouper, it will be interesting to see if they open there video content up to the site or if they keep it as is. Grouper is known for being strict about copyrighted materials, which is something that Sony reportedly liked.

There are a rumored 200 plus video sites now. The space is definately crowded and acquisition is the prefered exit for venture backed companies of this type given the IPO market. I think the $65 Million mark for a site like Grouper is a very good exit.

Congrats to Grouper!