BIOGRAPHY STEVE CHEN – Steven Shih “Steve” Chen born August, 1978) is a Taiwanese American and a co-founder and previous Chief Technology Officer of the popular video sharing website YouTube.
Chen was born in Taipei, Taiwan. When he was eight years old, he and his family immigrated to the United States. Before moving to America, he studied at Ching Shin Elementary School, Taiwan for two years. He attended River Trails Middle School in Mt. Prospect, Illinois and later John Hersey High School and Illinois Math and Science Academy, later attending University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Business
He was an early employee at PayPal, where he met Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim. In 2005, the three founded YouTube. He currently holds the position of Chief Technology Officer at YouTube. Chen was also an early employee at Facebook, although he left after several months to start YouTube.[citation needed] In June 2006, Chen was named by Business 2.0 as one of “The 50 people who matter now” in business.
On October 16, 2006, Chen and Hurley sold YouTube to Google, Inc. for $1.65 billion. Chen received 625,366 shares of Google and an additional 68,721 in a trust as part of the sale. The Google shares that he received were worth $350 million at Google’s October 30, 2007 closing stock price.
YouTube's Payoff: Hundreds of Millions for the Founders (2007)
Everyone suspected that the investors, founders and early employees of YouTube made tidy sums when the video sharing site was acquired by Google for $1.65 billion in stock.
But until now, few knew just how tidy those sums were. The answer, which Google delivered in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is now in: The sums are big enough to spark a new wave of envy across Silicon Valley.
The acquisition, the biggest in Google’s history, put the Internet search giant in the leading position in the burgeoning world of online video. But the acquisition has been clouded by threats that Google could be sued by movie studios and other content owners over the proliferation of copyrighted material on the YouTube site.
The Youngsters Behind YouTube: The Early Years of Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.
“Everybody aspires to be a star,” says Steve Chen, a Taiwanese immigrant who came to the U.S. with his family in the hopes for a better life. Chen’s aspirations became a reality when he, along with Pennsylvania-born Chad Hurley created what is today the world’s largest online video website. YouTube, having been launched no more than two years ago has now become a global sensation, propelling both Hurley and Chen to the top of Business 2.0’s list of “The 50 People Who Matter Now.” YouTube was also named TIME magazine’s 2006 “Invention of the Year.” When Hurley and Chen decided to sell their company, they did so for a hefty price tag of $1.65 billion.
No comments:
Post a Comment