The Wall Street Journal has published a report that claims Google is in negotiations to buy YouTube for an undisclosed amount – some speculation has the price tag on the site at more than $1.6 billion. A source familiar with the talks also said that the current negotiations are at a “sensitive” stage and could be halted or setback at any given moment.

While better technology allows larger frames, higher frame rates and better resolutions, the acquisition would make sense from a Google standpoint. YouTube's audience mixed with Google's ability to market ads could put Google in a nice position in the emerging market for video advertising. As of September 30, YouTube has almost half of the online video search market – serving more than 100 million videos per day.

The deal would, however, have some downsides for Google. The first problem the company would have to deal with is that YouTube has been facing pressure to clean up blatant copyright infringement by its users. Universal Music, for example, has claimed that YouTube owes the company “millions” because of infringement.

A number of companies have been trying to woo the YouTube co-founders into selling the company. Viacom, which offered $750 million for Facebook last year, may have also offered to purchase YouTube. Micorosft, Yahoo and the News Corporation have also shown previous interest in YouTube.