There's more to a mega-acquisition than big bucks. Beyond the $1.76 billion Google Inc. paid for YouTube Inc., the search engine leader gave the online video company a global footprint, which paid off Tuesday when YouTube announced new sites in Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the U.K.

Going global was always part of YouTube's plan, co-founder Steve Chen told The Associated Press, but Google provided the necessary expertise to expand internationally. Sakina Arsiwala, who previously worked on Google's search engines outside the U.S., is overseeing YouTube's expansion, with plans to launch channels in dozens of other countries.

Gaining a global footprint also put icing on the cake of MySpace.com's $580 million acquisition by Fox Interactive Media Inc., MySpace.com's senior vice president of marketing and content Shawn Gold told The Deal at the Web 2.0 NY & Madison Ave. 2.0 conference in New York City last week. —Mary Kathleen Flynn

See Associated Press story
See previous post on interview with Gold