Chapter 17: Chapter 17

As much as I disliked New York, I hated being in California more. The state was overpopulated, prices were through the roof, and traffic was terrible. I knew this from my three-month stay in Los Angeles during my later years in high school when my father ended up buying a home here. Because of this time I spent here, I learned to hate this place, especially the heat.

Still, I was here in mid June of 2006, when the temperatures were in the triple digits. Reason being was I had an interview with Oprah, and this is where YouTube headquarters was located. Chad Hurley, one of the founders of the video-sharing platform told me I was needed at this meeting. Evidently it was very important.

When I arrived at the building, I wondered why it looked plain. With all the funding I put into this company I expected it to be a lot bigger. It was still big, being a medium-sized building with three stories, but I expected something different. I flashed my badge to the security and walked to the back. As I was walking someone came up next to me and lead me towards the meeting room. It was a young woman that looked to be in her early twenties. She had three cups of coffee in her hands and I wondered if she would drop one. She didn't, but it was still a sight I wouldn't mind seeing if I were being honest.

Entering the room I was greeted by Chad a tall white man that should have taken better care of his long brown hair. He was in a suit, and so were the other two co-founders, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, both of whom were younger than Chad.

"Please sit." Chad told me as he rushed to his own chair.

I noticed I was the only one present and wondered where the other shareholders were at. Were they even coming?

"What's going on?" I asked them. "Are we waiting for someone else?"

"We are, but we called you here to discuss something with you. Since you own a large portion of the company, you have a right to a say." Steve said.

"Google reached out to us multiple times these last couple of months, and their offer is just too good to pass up. We wanted to tell you personally that we are going to sell the company to them." Chad said getting right to the chase.

"I see. Is there a need to sell? I'm sure that the amount they are offering you can make within a few years time with more development. There are more than a hundred employees working here, what is going to happen to them?" I asked.

"There is no need to sell, but when we started this platform, we never imagined it would get this big so fast. There are too many people posting that it is hard to keep track of who is uploading what. We don't have the manpower to keep track of it all. This project we made was not supposed to grow this large, it is time consuming and demanding. We'd rather not have to mess around with this any longer." Jawed said.

"They are offering us 2.89 billion dollars for our platform, and since you own thirty-five percent of it we wanted to know what you want to do. Do you want to sell us your shares for a large sum, would you rather keep them, or we were wondering if you wanted to match their offer...." Steve let that last part hang in the air.

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"You want to sell me the company?" I asked them. As tempting as it was, I did not want to own YouTube. If I didn't have my own companies, then I surely would not mind acquiring one more. But, I had my own goals and agenda. YouTube was just a source for me to have for my own entertainment and to make a profit on the side. Not to lead it on a path to glory. That would mean more work hours, and I already had my hands full as it was.

They all nodded.

"You've been with us since the beginning, you believed in our idea and helped make it a reality. Without you, YouTube would not be what it is today. You know some of the employees and would be more willing to keep them, you also understand what we were trying to establish. If you take full control, we know you'll do the right thing." Chad said right before he smiled.

"Just know, if you keep your shares Google will end up buying you out when we sell the company. You stand to loose more than you'd gain if you keep them. Which is why we invited you here today. What do you want to do?" Jawed asked me.

I scratched my head. Did I invest too soon? I should have put money into this company after it was brought out, not as soon as they surfaced. This was my own fault.

Hearing him say that I had to think this over. I had enough money to match what Google was offering them, and if I applied what YouTube was in the future here then I'd easily be able to make that back. But, why should I work hard to do that when Google would already achieve that in the future? What was the perks of owning this company?

There was my gaming company, and my film studio. Did I really need this platform as well? But, this was a once-in-a-lifetime offer. The chance to own the giant in the making. It was very tempting.

If I truly wanted to take on a streaming platform, I would have just created Twitch as soon as I arrived here. But instead, I wanted to go down my own path. Now I was being given a new choice, one that would certainly affect the future in a huge way. In my mind, I pictured it and smiled.

Never bite off more than you could chew. My mother always told me that, and I was starting to see what she was saying now. Streaming redefined, videos shared, profile customization, image sharing, tv shows published. A one-stop shop pony for people of all ages. That was what I saw YouTube as if I were to get my hands on it. Before all the other sites got a chance, I could be the first.

It was this slight greed and the extra exposure I would garnish that led to my decision. Was it dumb? Maybe. Would my time be cut? Most definitely. But would I do it? Yes.

"You're right. I'll buy you out." I told them after much thought.

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