Sony buys Grouper.com for $65m

Sony has agreed to pay $65 million for Grouper.com, a Web video site similar to user-generated video giant YouTube that allows visitors to download and play content on iPods or other portable media devices. A top Sony executive said the acquisition is designed to infuse the studios with new ideas and talent for movies, TV shows, and games, according to Reuters. "I think user-generated content and the sites around [them] are businesses or platforms unto themselves in the same way that television networks [are]," said Michael Lynton, Sony Pictures chairman and CEO. "There is a big piece of the entertainment/media business this touches."

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Other story tags: digital music/video