Googlified

Both of the Official Google Blog and the FeedBurner Blog confirmed that Google has indeed acquired FeedBurner as posted previously. Although the amount Google paid for FeedBurner was not disclosed, but Michael Arrington speculated that it would be around $100 million. Just as I have said, Google is more over with FeedBurner’s advertising program than it’s technology. (AdSense for Feeds didn’t go well)

Q. Why did Google acquire FeedBurner?
A. Google believes that feed-based content and advertising is a developing space where we can add value for users, advertisers and publishers. FeedBurner’s technology and talented team are a great addition to Google’s current solutions for advertisers and publishers.

This is part from the FAQ is quite interesting to me.

Q. Will Google assume full operational control of FeedBurner, or will FeedBurner remain autonomous?
A. We are excited to have the FeedBurner team join the Google team. The FeedBurner website will remain operational as we continue to integrate their technologies with Google’s tools.

I think we will probably see some changes (/new features) in Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools (see how many people subscribed to their feed), AdSense (a revamped AdSense for Feed) or Google Reader soon.

Some facts & stats from FeedBurner:

• Total feeds: 736,494
• Number of publishers: 431,171
• Number of podcast and videocast feeds: 112,998
• Number of subscribers to podcast and videocast feeds: 3,528,935
• Number of subscriptions reachable by the FeedBurner Ad Network: 13,744,715
• Percent of FeedBurner employees using Macs: 39%, PCs: 58%, Other: 3%.

UPDATE: Google and FeedBurner has been negotiating the deal at least since December 2006, according to Jason Shellen, Product Manager of Google Reader.