Mark Cuban published a truly fascinating third-party analysis of the inner workings of the YouTube/Google deal and how it was structured to address copyright infringement issues. Whether true or not — Mark includes a dislaimer of his own — it has the twists and turns of a political thriller.

• Nearly 500 million of the 1.65 billion purchase price is not being disbursed to shareholders but instead being held in escrow.
• YouTube approached the media companies, who smelled a transaction when YouTube radically changed their initial revenue-sharing offer to one laden with cash. The media companies, thinking short-term and not guessing how big this deal would be, went for about 50 million each to be paid from the Google buyout monies.
• To avoid paying artist’s royalties, the media companies structured this as an equity transaction.
• YouTube negotiated a six-month moratorium on infringement litigation during which time its competitors will continue to be sued, giving Google a huge window for further growth and dominance.
• This, in turn, chokes off venture-capital funding of YouTubes competitors.

The details, speculative or otherwise, are well worth the read. Thanks, Jake Shapiro.