Sony Buys Grouper for $65 Million

SFGate reports: Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired online video-sharing site Grouper Networks Inc. for $65 million, giving the movie studio a foothold in the fast-growing world of user-generated video.Sony said Tuesday it does not immediately plan to sell its movies or TV shows on the Grouper.com site, although it may in the future. Media companies, including Sony, have begun to offer content side by side with videos shot by amateurs on sites such as MySpace, Guba and BitTorrent. Grouper will remain an independent company based in Sausalito and will retain its current management team, the companies said.

“Consumers are spending more and more time on sites like Grouper, and as one of the world’s largest creators of entertainment, we want to be where the audiences are,” said Michael Lynton, chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures, part of Sony Corp.

P.S. CubeBreak is still for sale. Act before Labor Day and you can take advantage of a “back to school discount” for a low price of $900K.