Childhood & Early Life
Chad Meredith Hurley was born on January 24, 1977, in Reading, Pennsylvania, US, to Don and Joann Hurley. He is the second of their three children and their eldest son. He has an older sister named Heather and a younger brother named Brent. Hurley was raised near Birdsboro, Pennsylvania.
He developed an interest in arts as a child and displayed remarkable artistic skills while growing up. According to sources, he even sold his sketches and other artwork during his elementary-school years and eventually set up shop on the sidewalk outside his house, illustrating his entrepreneurial propensity from an early age. He also developed an interest in computers and electronic media in his high-school years.
He attended ‘Twin Valley High School’ in Elverson, Berks County, Pennsylvania, and completed his graduation in 1995. While there, he remained a standout runner of the cross-country program of the school and was its member when it won two of its ‘PIAA State’ titles in 1992 and 1994. During his high-school days, Hurley also remained a member of the career and technical student organization named the ‘Technology Student Association.’
He then attended the ‘Indiana University of Pennsylvania,’ from where he earned his BA degree in fine art in 1999.
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Career
Following his college graduation, Hurley got a job in ‘eBay's ‘PayPal’ division. He mainly concentrated on the user interface of the site and was involved in designing the original logo of ‘PayPal,’ the American company that runs an online-payments system across the globe.
Hurley then joined hands with two other employees of the company, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, to create the American video-sharing website ‘YouTube’ in 2005.
According to Hurley and Chen, the concept of ‘YouTube’ was originally inspired by the rating site ‘Hot or Not.’ Another story claims that Hurley and Chen came up with the concept of ‘YouTube’ in early 2005, after facing difficulty in sharing videos of a dinner party that was held at Chen's apartment in San Francisco.
However, Karim said that the inspiration of developing ‘YouTube’ came after he could not easily find video clips of two events that occurred in 2004. The events were the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami and the ‘Super Bowl XXXVIII’ halftime show controversy that involved Janet Jackson.
‘YouTube’s domain name was activated on February 14, 2005, and the website was developed gradually in the ensuing months. It began as a venture capital-funded technology start-up with primary investments of $11.5 million from American venture capital firm ‘Sequoia Capital’ and $8 million from ‘Artis Capital Management.’ The headquarters of the company were originally located above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California.
Hurley became the first CEO of ‘YouTube’ on February 14, 2005. His main responsibility was to look after the tagging and the video-sharing aspects of the website.
He was ranked 28th on monthly magazine ‘Business 2.0’s list of "50 People Who Matter Now" in June 2006. The same year, on October 16, Hurley and Chen sold ‘YouTube’ to ‘Google Inc.’ for $1.65 billion. ‘The Wall Street Journal’ reported that in ‘Google's February 7, 2007 closing stock price of $470.01, Hurley’s share was $345.6 million. The deal saw Hurley receive 694,087 shares of ‘Google’ directly and an additional count of 41,232 in a trust.
Hurley was the primary investor of the proposed ‘US F1 Team’ that was granted entry in ‘Formula One’ automobile racing in the 2010 season but did not finally compete. The personnel of the team were dismissed from duties on March 2 that year, and the team was closed permanently. In its April 1, 2010 report, the ‘Charlotte Business Journal’ cited "serious economic and funding challenges" as the reason for the shutdown. However, Hurley, team principal Ken Anderson, and sporting director Peter Windsor refrained from making any comment on the subject.
Hurley held the position of the CEO of ‘YouTube’ till October 29, 2010, and was succeeded by Salar Kamangar. Hurley, however, mentioned that he would continue to serve as an advisor of the website.
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He then launched the internet company ‘AVOS Systems,’ along with Chen and Vijay Karunamurthy. An announcement stating ‘AVOS’s acquisition of the social-bookmarking web service ‘Delicious’ from ‘Yahoo! Inc.’ was made in April 2011, while the transition took place in June that year. Meanwhile, in May that year, ‘AVOS’ purchased ‘Tap 11,’ a social analytics company. ‘Delicious’ was sold to ‘Science Inc.’ in May 2014.
Hurley and Chen launched the video-sharing company ‘MixBit’ on August 8, 2013. The company’s website, which allowed users to create dynamic shared videos, competed with ‘Instagram’ and ‘Vine.’ ‘AVOS’ began working only on ‘MixBit’ in 2014. Chen mentioned that it was Hurley’s idea to turn ‘AVOS’ into ‘MixBit.’ In August 2018, ‘Mixbit,’ now ‘Zeen,’ was taken over by ‘BlueJeans.’
Hurley also invested in the ‘MLS' team ‘Los Angeles Football Club’ and in the ‘NBA' team ‘Golden State Warriors.’ Hurley is a co-owner of both the teams.
Facts About Chad Hurley
Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube, is an avid collector of luxury cars and enjoys restoring classic automobiles in his spare time.
In addition to his work in technology, Hurley is also passionate about photography and has published a book featuring his own photography.
Hurley is known for his philanthropic efforts, including supporting educational initiatives and environmental causes.
He is a fan of outdoor activities such as hiking and camping, and often takes time to disconnect from technology and enjoy nature.
Hurley has a love for gourmet cooking and enjoys experimenting with new recipes in his kitchen.
