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.
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