[boltefnovor]

I often think about how YouTube was the bargain of the century.

YouTube would be one if the biggest companies ever if it had remained independent.

[bruceb]

Problem with them was the massive about of money they were burning on servers and being sued by RIAA (Music companies) and MPAA (Film companies) among others. They needed a big infusion of capital.

Instagram on the other hand could have remained independent and succeeded.

[prox]

I think instagram is one of the (few) companies that could eventually have eclipsed Facebook really.

[jiofih]

Which is the exact reason they paid a billion dollars to acquire it.

[GlitchMr]

I don't think YouTube would have been one of the biggest companies if it remained independent.

The problem is that YouTube is still not profitable, and also without a support from a big company like Google they would be sued into oblivion by MPAA and RIAA.

[tehlike]

I feel similar for android.

[boltefnovor]

Android needed google to grow, YouTube didn’t.

[tehlike]

Google acquired android for 50m$.