Tycoons Row

Today, (16:16:41) – at 4:16 pm, the original founders of YouTube – Chad, Steven Chen &  Jawad Kim have decided to cash-in on their American Dream.  They have filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission along with Sequoia Capital and others to sell 3.23 million shares in Google received in October 2006.

Based on the filing, Hurley is selling 735,319 shares valued at $347.1 million.  Chen shares (694,087) are worth $327.7 million with 694,087 shares.  Kim, who left the company to return to finish his graduate degree at Stanford, is selling stock worth $64.9 million.

Google closed out the year in their 4^th quarter (Dec. 2006) with $3.21 billion.  Revenues through AdSense was 37% of their revenues - $1.20 billion.  I think who ever is shunning an Ad-Sponsored business model should definitely think again.

The dream is still alive.  Not only is this inspirational, but also a fascinating view of the rise to become a newly minted, self-made millionaire.  Just one idea and someone believing allowed these mid-20 year olds to become an overnight success.

I think the next start-up that will escalate to these levels will not only be in the video category but also in the music category.  It will be a company that will understand the value of revenue sharing as a feature and the scalability of video platforms.  I say the music industry because we will soon have some clarity on this DRM mess, & Video – because the quality of video online is changing, however, I think there is work to be done on distribution.

~Reporting~