YouTube’s founders split over $650 million when they sold to Google in 2006—had they held out, they could have taken a slice of $550 billion

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YouTube’s founders split over $650 million when they sold to Google in 2006—had they held out, they could have taken a slice of $550 billion

fortune.com/2025/07/25/youtube-cofounders-chad-hurley-steven-chen-sold-google-net-millions-but-now-worth-over-500-billion

YouTube sold to Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion, with cofounders Chad Hurley and Steven Chen splitting over $650 million worth of stock shares. And while their wealth increased exponentially with the acquisition, estimates put today’s value of YouTube at $550 billion—a 333x increase.…

This story appeared on fortune.com, 2025-07-25 15:39:52.