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YouTube Acquired by Google for $1.65 Billion
Google is acquiring internet video giant YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock.
The creators of YouTube, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, 29 and 27, respectively, stand to make a little bit of money on this deal. To announce the acquisition in a fitting manner, Chad and Steve recorded and published a video on YouTube.
Because the video is kinda quirky (You might imagine the creators of YouTube to be a bit nerdy. You would be right.), I've transcribed it below (Bracketed comments and emphasis, mine):
Chad Hurley (CEO): Hi YouTube. This is Chad and Steve. We're the cofounders of the site and we just want to say thank you. Today we have some exciting news for you: we've been acquired by Google. [Cue Dave Chappelle, "I'm rich, b---h!"]
Steve Chen (CTO): Yeah thanks thanks to ... uh ... all, everyone of you guys who've been contributing to YouTube - the community. We wouldn't be ... we wouldn't be anywhere close to where we are without the help of this community. [In other words, Steve says, "Thanks, guys, for making me ridiculously wealthy."]
Follow up:
Chad: We're going to stay committed to ... to developing the best service for you for ... uh ... developing the most innovative service and tools and technology so you can ... uh ... keep having fun on our site. [You sure about that, Chad? Sounds like you might be losing focus already.]
Steve: the most compelling part of this is being able to really concentrate on features and functionality for the community ... um uh ... We've certainly been listening to the problems that have been coming in surfacing on the customer service ... um the ... the developed forefront [?]. We're definitely keen on reorganizing all of our efforts and energy back into building out the community and resolving these problems that you've been having.
[Here's where it starts getting weird: in other words, hysteria at becoming multi-millionaires begins to surface]
Chad: And this is great. Two kings have gotten together [Steve about loses it here] and we're going to be able to provide you an even better service and ... uh ... build even more innovative features for you.
(Chad and Steve break down and start laughing)
Chad: I don't know ... just keep going.
Cameraman: What does it mean for the internet community?
Chad: Two kings have gotten together. The king, the king, the king of search - the king of video - we're going to have it our way.
[Fin.]
What was that? Kings? Have it your way? Burger King??? Clearly, these two have lost it. And really, you can't blame them: $1.65 billion goes a long way.
The nerd inside me is intensely jealous.
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