Google's $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube, founded by Steve Chen in 2006 , made Chen Shijun famous and became a high-profile Chinese entrepreneur. "Will you regret selling YouTube to Google in 2006?" is the most frequently asked question by Chen Shijun. He once heard a rough estimate from his friends that if YouTube remained independent, the valuation would be about $50 billion to $80 billion. He said, "I don't regret it! Without Google's resources, there would be no YouTube!" Chen Shijun bluntly said that YouTube was growing too fast at that time, and there were many hurdles that had to be overcome. Just to establish localization teams in countries around the world, it urgently needed the assistance of multinational Internet companies such as Google. Before the merger,
the YouTube team had only 54 people, and it would be extremely challenging to hire thousands of employees around the world by itself. That's why he and another co-founder, Chad Hurley, decided to accept Google's acquisition. Before thinking about M&A, ask yourself if you want to work for another 5 to 10 years? Chen Shijun pointed out that accepting mergers and acquisitions of large companies or continuing operations, the risks faced are different, wedding photo retouching services and it will depend on how the team chooses. He said, "As long as the company has positive revenue and can continue to raise funds, there is no reason for it to be acquired!" You don't want to be acquired, you can have the highest dominance, and the company's return after listing is higher. However, do the founders and team want to continue to invest 5 to 10 years in the effort to go public? Or are employees already tired and want to be employees of a big company?
Can you scale your company on your own? The risk of being acquired is losing control of the company, but becoming an employee of a large company often runs counter to the founder's original purpose of starting a business. Also, the last thing the founders want is the company being acquired and the original service shutting down. Extended reading: Serial entrepreneur Xu Xuming: If you want to be acquired, first cooperate with a company that has the opportunity to acquire you! Chen Shijun said, "We were lucky! At the time, Google kept us operating independently, Hurley and I had decision-making power, and Google provided all the resources YouTube needed."