The investors and founders of YouTube received hundreds of millions of dollars in Google shares as a result of the deal between the two companies late last year, according to new documents.
The big payout was revealed on Wednesday in a regulatory filing Google made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The paperwork offered a more detailed account than previously disclosed of the sale's beneficiaries.
The US$1.76 billion acquisition of the video-sharing Web site was the biggest in Google's history, and took place less than two years after YouTube was founded. The startup had about 70 employees when the deal was announced in October.
In total, online search leader Google Inc registered about 3.23 million Class A shares to issue to former YouTube stockholders, according to the filing.
YouTube's three founders and Sequoia Capital, its main financial backer, received the biggest windfalls.
Chad Hurley, YouTube's chief executive, was paid in Google shares with a current indicated value of more than US$345 million. He received 694,087 shares and an additional 41,232 in a trust.
Another founder, Steven Chen (陳士駿), received 625,366 shares and another 68,721 in a trust, for more than US$326 million. Jawed Karim, the third co-founder, received 137,443 Google shares, with an indicated value of US$64.6 million.
Sequoia Capital, the sole venture capital backer of YouTube, received 941,027, valued at about US$442 million.
At least two dozen YouTube employees received lesser share amounts. Shares were also divided up among dozens of limited partner investors in Sequoia Capital.
In related news, Google announced on Thursday that it had adapted its free online document and spreadsheet service to a dozen languages.
Google Docs and Spreadsheets is available in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Korean, Turkish, Polish, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian and in traditional and simplified Chinese as well as in English, the company said.
Google has also made its Firefox Web browser control bar compatible with those languages, according to Kevin Systrom, a marketing manager at the company.
Google has been making computer applications available online in a move seen as part of a "Web 2.0" trend that spares people from having to install and maintain programs on their machines.
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