Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has acquired Grouper, the user-generated video site on the Internet, it was announced today by Michael Lynton, SPE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

The price seems a bit low to me. Is this a sign of things to come for the social / web 2.0 crowd? Considering that social start-up Facebook.com has been rumored to turn down several Billion dollar deals (yes billion). Interesting.

Grouper.com, which is the second largest independent video community,enables its members to watch, share and create video on the Web. Under the terms of the $65 million deal, the Sausalito-based company will retain its current management, working closely with a team at Sony Pictures.

Grouper’s primary mission is to give its users the flexibility to take their videos with them across site and platform. Grouper users can browse videos and easily post them to a wide variety of third-party Web sites, such as their personal pages on MySpace, Blogger and Friendster. Grouper’s portability is anchored by its robust peer-to-peer video sharing network, which facilitates downloads of high quality uncut original video shared by its members. Its users can download from Grouper.com to connected mobile devices like the PSP and iPod. Grouper also provides members with easy-to-use video editing tools so that videos can be quickly uploaded from cameras, camcorders and webcams.

No immediate changes are planned for the Grouper site. Over time, Sony seesp potential for ad-supported and premium content businesses.

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