GooTube is real, and Arrington told me first

Reuters reports that Google has paid US$1.65B for YouTube, with confirmation by Google adding the detail that it is a stock-only deal. The announcement follows days of speculation across the blogosphere, started by Mike Arrington at TechCrunch and taken up by the New York Times in the interim. It took the NYT report for most pundits to take the rumour seriously, which just shows the double standard that blogs still have to fight against. Mike can laugh in their faces now. Of course, he's not exactly batting a thousand on the rumour front, but this is one that he can notch up for the TechCrunch honour roll.

Haters, keep hating. Mike, keep reporting.