YouTube Founder Moves On

The Googlesphere is abuzz with word that Steve Chen, who co-founded YouTube with Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim and later sold it to Google (GOOG) for $1.65 billion, has left his post as YouTube's chief technology officer. And here's the thing: he did it last fall, and we're only hearing about it now! Who says you can't keep a secret in Silicon Valley?

The news first broke on All Things D, where Peter Kafka got YouTube spokesman Ricardo Reyes to confirm the move: "Steve shifted his focus to help with some Google engineering projects. He's still involved with YouTube and invested in its success." Google has not disclosed what Chen is working on now. PaidContent openly predicts that YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley will be gone soon as well.

What does this all mean for Google?

Take #1: Nothing. As Kafka points out, YouTube is a lot bigger than Chen or Hurley now, and the site operated without any bumps in the road once he left. "The fact that Chen's move has gone unreported until now should underscore that his departure didn't represent a major org chart reshuffling," he writes. "The technical challenges of the site have long been handled by a large engineering team."

Take #2: Chen was dragging YouTube down. At least, that's the implication of Valleywag writer Ryan Tate's post: "It's no secret that YouTube needs to make money; its annual losses have been estimated at between $175 million and $471 million. Meanwhile, Hulu may have already matched the ad revenue of YouTube, which is twice Hulu's age, thanks to old-media-friendly content. The more completely Google breaks with YouTube's past, the easier it will be for CEO Eric Schmidt to the movie and TV studios."

Take #3: Google's still terrified about a brain drain. Over at Seeking Alpha, Andy Beal speculates that the months of silence on Google's part can only mean one thing: Google wants to keep Chen and his clever colleagues inside the tent, and buzz about his departure would just give more Google employees ideas. "Reading between the lines, it seems as though Chen's not as important to YouTube-now that a whole army of engineers are at its disposal-but he could play a vital role at one of its competitors," he writes.