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YouWin: YouTube Founders, Investors Got More Than One Billion in Google Stock

Associated Press
Published | Updated

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – 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 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 $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. (GOOG) 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 $345 million. He received 694,087 shares and an additional 41,232 in a trust.

Another founder, Steven Chen, received 625,366 shares and another 68,721 in a trust, for more than $326 million. Jarwed Karim, the third co-founder, received 137,443 Google shares, with an indicated value of $64.6 million.

Sequoia Capital, the sole venture capital backer of YouTube, received 941,027, valued at about $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.

Since its Web site first began to catch on about a year ago, YouTube has relied on a mix of homemade and pirated videos to expand its audience.

Although YouTube has promptly removed pirated videos whenever copyright owners complained about violations, questions have continued to linger about the site's vulnerability to legal claims for distributing content owned by other media.

Google executives also have repeatedly vowed to protect the rights of copyright holders.