Working World

What began as a way to share videos online has blossomed into a cultural phenomenon its founders could not have foreseen. In only two years, it made Chad Hurley and Steve Chen very, very rich young men.

YouTube is an Internet repository of millions of videos, both original and pirated. It houses everything from the ridiculous (dancing cats) to the deadly serious (clips by human rights organizations such as Save Darfur), and anyone can participate.

It has led to the discovery of several entertainers, comics, and bands who posted performance videos and got enough attention to transition to mainstream media. Talent (of varying degrees) can be exposed to an audience of millions in only months, something never before possible.

Forbes.com says that “YouTube represents the first time media has become truly democratic for both the audience and the content creators.” Pundits are also talking about the impact this forum could have on politics, citing YouTube’s hosting of presidential debates in 2007. Although the network vetted the questions, the general population was allowed to ask questions of the candidates, giving the event an immediacy and relevance that political debates often lack. Hurley maintains that allowing anyone to ask questions added a new dynamic to the process.

Chad Hurley grew up in Pennsylvania, excelled in track, and got a bachelor's degree in fine arts. Steve Shih Chen (not to be confused with a Dr. Steve Chen, who is a supercomputer designer) was born in Taiwan and came to the U.S. with his family as a youngster. He went to high school and college in Illinois and studied computer science. The two met when they both went to work at PayPal. Along with Jawed Karim, another PayPal employee, they created YouTube, a user-friendly site that allowed people to put videos on the site in minutes.

In December 2005, they launched the site; they knew almost immediately they “were onto something big.” Sequoia Capital knew it, too, investing over $11 million between late 2005 and early 2006. By summer 2006, YouTube had become one of the world’s fastest growing websites, with 100 million video clips viewed daily.

Google acquired YouTube in November 2006 for $1.65 billion in stock. Hurley’s shares were worth $345 million, Chen’s, $326 million and even Karim, who had already left the company to go to graduate school, but held substantial stock, got $64 million.

Copyright infringement has been an issue. Major media companies such as Viacom and NBC have asked YouTube to remove videos that they own; YouTube’s policy is to always comply. NBC and CBS have decided that strategic partnerships make more sense than trying to control this new beast and have worked out arrangements where YouTube runs clips from their shows and promotional videos, turning this new forum to their advantage. In an interview with Matt Lauer on "The Today Show" in July 2007, Hurley insisted that YouTube was not trying to put traditional media out of work, it was just creating “more opportunities for the distribution of work.”

YouTube was ranked number nine on PC World magazine’s “Top 10 Best Products of 2006” list. CEO Chad Hurley, who turned 30 in 2007, was voted number 28 on Business 2.0’s "50 People Who Matter" list in 2006. Steve Chen, 29, is chief technology officer at Brisbane.

Suzanne Ridgway is a freelance writer and regular columnist for Working World and Working Nurse magazines. Suzanne also writes grant proposals for nonprofit organizations.