Steve Chen Net Worth- Inspired by Flickr, the three friends working together brought a conception of an online video platform into reality. Little does one can imagine today sharing videos without YouTube? No, indeed YouTube has been an inseparable part of routine lives. Though the founders of the pioneer video portal are no more with the project, the perception of the venture is been amazing. Today, Steven Shih Chen – the co-founder and former CTO of YouTube – is celebrating his 40th birth anniversary.
Here are some interesting but less known facts about this Taiwanese American Internet entrepreneur.
Date of Birth: August 18, 1978
Net Worth: Unknown ($300 Million as of 2012)
1. Hailing from Taiwan, his family immigrated to the United States when he was fifteen. Steve Chen dropped out of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2002 to join PayPal with only a few credits left behind to obtain his degree. PayPal served as a common platform for the three co-founders of YouTube to get to know each other. Steve Chen Net Worth
2. A video capturing a dinner party hosted by Chen in January 2005 triggered a video revolution on the internet.
YouTube was born on 14 February 2005 as his friends found it difficult to share the video recorded on a camcorder through e-mail owing to the huge file size. Inspired by Flickr that served as a one-stop shop for digital photographs driving motivation from this the trio of friends Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim established an online portal to upload and share videos.
3. Sequoia Capital a Silicon Valley capital firm agreed to invest Chen’s initiative $3.5 million. The first video on YouTube “Me at the Zoo” uploaded on 23 April 2005 by the co-founder Jawed Karim, shot at San Diego Zoo. Soon after a year, the portal had 100 million videos in the archives. A 19-second video shot by Yakov Lapitsky.
4. YouTube was sold to Google for $1.65 billion on 16 October 2006, with 625,366 shares of Google receive by Steve Chen. Steve Chen Net Worth
5. With a lot of inventions, building, and rebuilding things he received a lot of accolades. He was listed one among the “15 Asian Scientists To Watch” by Asian Scientist Magazine on 15 May 2011. Moreover, the business and entertainment communities have featured him among the “Most Influential People” and he received Time magazine’s “Best Invention of the Year” for YouTube in the year 2006.
6. With ad space being the means for revenue generation YouTube had a tantalizing ad money advantage but the co-founders never wanted the people to watch something not interested.
Yielding to the monetary conditions the first ad featured on YouTube was a simple text. And in January 2006 confessing and explaining the shortage of cash.
7. Steve Chen, with 18 investments in 18 companies, now serves Google Ventures leaving behind the AVOS Systems. Co-founded by him along with Chad Hurley in 2013. AVOS Systems acquired Delicious from Yahoo! Inc in June 2011.
6. This year, Steve Chen was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. And received the Order of Lincoln Award, which is the state’s highest honor for professional achievement and public service.
Tech mistake | Steve Chen and Chad Hurley both share their views after a thumping success of YouTube and tell “We feel this is just the tip of the iceberg,” and these words clearly depict there are a lot more things to achieve and innovative ventures in the queue.
Disclaimer:
The article is a part of the B’day Series where we celebrate the birthday of renowned personalities from across Industries, very frequently. The series includes Entrepreneurs, C-level Executives, innovators, or renewed leaders. Who moved the industry with their exponential skill set and vision. The intent is to highlight the person’s achievements and touch base on the little-known, but interesting, part of his life. You can see the list of all earlier celebrated tech personalities, including Mark Zuckerberg, Marissa Mayer, Sean Parker, Andy Rubin, Julian Assange, by following this link or subscribe to your daily newsletter.
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