YouTube CEO Chad Hurley is surrendering the reins of the popular video Web site that he started with two buddies as a quirky curiosity and went on to groom into a media magnet that shows more than 2 billion clips a day.
The change in command announced on Friday formalizes a transition that has been unfolding over the past two years as YouTube’s owner, Internet search leader Google Inc, asserted more control over the Web site.
Google dispatched one of its longtime employees, Salar Kamangar, to help Hurley steer YouTube in 2008. That move signaled Google’s resolve to start making more money off its 2006 acquisition of YouTube for US$1.76 billion. Kamangar’s expertise is in online advertising.
Since his arrival at YouTube’s San Bruno, California headquarters, Kamangar had been running the day-to-day operations, while Hurley concentrated on keeping the site’s steadily growing audience happy. Kamangar now officially assumes the CEO’s role, while Hurley, 33, remains available as a part-time adviser.
The transition will give Hurley, a designer, more time to devote to another of his business ideas, the men’s clothing line Hlaska.
The brand’s name is a mash-up of Hawaii and Alaska, signifying its goal of becoming “the 51st state.”
Although YouTube has been selling more ads and striking more business partnerships since Kamangar entered the picture, Google hasn’t said whether the site is profitable yet. The ads shown on YouTube are part of the roughly US$625 million in revenue that Google got from so-called display advertising during the three months ending last month. That’s less than 10 percent of Google’s total revenue of US$7.3 billion during the period.
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
MARKET FACTORS: Navitas Semiconductor Inc said that Powerchip is to take over from TSMC as its supplier of high-voltage gallium nitride chips Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday in a statement said that it would phase out its compound semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN) business over the next two years, citing market dynamics. The decision would not affect its financial targets announced previously, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said. “We are working closely with our customers to ensure a smooth transition and remain committed to meeting their needs during this period,” it said. “Our focus continues to be on delivering sustained value to our partners and the market.” TSMC’s latest move came unexpectedly, as the chipmaker had said in its annual report that it has
Rick Cassidy, the chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's (TSMC, 台積電) US subsidiary, TSMC Arizona Corp, plans to retire, but the company has yet to name a successor. After Cassidy made his intention to retire known, TSMC Arizona held a special general meeting and approved a resolution that Cassidy would not continue as chairman and would not remain as a director, TSMC said in a statement filed with the Taiwan Stock Exchange last night. The meeting also approved a plan to appoint TSMC Arizona president Rose Castanares as a director, the company said, adding that Cassidy has been named as an advisor
SECURITY WARNING: The company possesses key 3-nanometer technology, and Taiwan should prevent it from being transferred to China, a lawmaker said The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it would conduct a “strict review” of any proposed acquisition of Taiwanese tech company Source Photonics Co (索爾思光電), following media reports that a Chinese firm was planning to buy the company in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區). Local media reported that Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing Co (東山精密), China’s largest printed circuit board manufacturer, had announced plans to acquire Source Photonics for 5.9 billion yuan (US$823.1 million). The ministry said it has not received an application from Source Photonics and has formally notified the company that any buyout would constitute a change in its ownership structure. The
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