Googles Big Deals

Google's had some big deals the last week, and I'm going to lay them out quickly for anyone who didn't read about them elsewhere while I was gone. First, Google announced a deal with Fox Interactive, owners of MySpace (the most popular site on the web, according to many sources), to provide search and text/keyword-based advertising. Google gains exclusive rights to targeted and text ads across those sites, most notably MySpace, through 2010, and right of first refusal on other advertising. Google guarantees MySpace $900 million a year, so long as MySpace continues to deliver the traffic. In theory, it is a great deal. MySpace could have tipped things in a bad way towards a competitor if Google had not made this deal, and Google should be able to meet the revenue requirements. Google gains a huge amount of ad inventory and visibility as well. Of course, there are always things that could go wrong, and if Google were to fall on hard times, a popular MySpace combined with a weak ad market could mean Google paying MySpace far more than it is worth. Either way, Rupert Murdoch gets his money back almost twice a year on a $500 million aquisition, making everybody look like an idiot. Finally, Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog.