Brad Greenspan, liveuniverse, deals, online video, revver

Video startup Revver sells to unpredictable ex-MySpace boss

Last we heard, Revver, the YouTube wannabe which promised a cut of revenues to video creators, was on the ropes. LiveUniverse, the Internet vehicle of former MySpace boss Brad Greenspan, had walked away from a deal, reports had it. That left Revver grasping for a lifeline and willing to sell itself for as little as $1.5 million. Now, NewTeeVee tells us LiveUniverse has bought Revver for less than $5 million.

One could go into a longwinded dissertation on how rumors like this spread, how word leaks in the midst of negotiations, and how the press gets inadvertently roped into fraught negotiations. But I prefer one peer's much simpler explanation: "Brad Greenspan is crazy."

5:00 PM on Thu Feb 14 2008
By Owen Thomas
1,200 views
8 comments

Comments

jimmys at 05:14 PM on 02/14/08
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This is real correspondence with revver's founder:

On Nov 11, 2005, at 11:58 PM, Jim Sorensen wrote:

I wish people who shamelessly clone other people's websites, like you cloned youtube.com, burn in hell.
Well, I am sure with $5m raised from Sequoia Capital and with top PayPal coders who founded it, they will either bury you, or just reduce to another porn site.

Good luck Steve.
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On 11/12/05, Steven Starr wrote:

Hi Jim,

Perhaps if you'd chosen to investigate further, you might have noted that youtube's design was inspired by a variety of sites including Flickr, a user-generated media site inspired by many media-aggregating precursors rowing thumbnails.

Revver is rooting for youtube and we've said so publicly. We're rooting for a lot of other people who are focused on user-generated content, including Vimeo, Veoh, Ourmedia, Creative Commons, DTV, etc. Some of these people are our partners, and we don't see any of them as our enemies, nor they us.

Youtube announced recently that they are thinking about a 'revver-like' creator compensation solution. Should we attack youtube for being influenced by us, for doing the right thing by creators? Should Flickr attack youtube because youtube took front end design ideas from it?

We are all watching what each other are doing and learning. That's the way it works.

All best,

Steven

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show details Feb 10 (4 days ago) Reply

> We are all watching what each other are doing and learning. That's the way it works.

Does it really work that way?
WagCurious at 05:39 PM on 02/14/08
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Connectedness Index: 114
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Crazy 'bout some delicious internet video! If copying YouTube is a crime then Brad be guilty!
Patricia2 at 05:41 PM on 02/14/08
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Connectedness Index: 54
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Crazy but so cute.
igneous at 05:42 PM on 02/14/08
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mashable said Revver almost definitely fetched more than the $12.7 million in venture funding they raised from Comcast, Turner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Richards and William Randolph Hearst III.
willontech.com at 06:07 PM on 02/14/08
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If Brad really wants it to take-off he should just set his .jpg to the index file. It's the only way I can see that $#it fly.
Rick at 07:42 PM on 02/14/08
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@Patricia2: word, he's like the poor man's jude law
Revv at 04:25 PM on 02/15/08
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BLAME LAWYERS/BUS PARTNERS FOR REVVER FAILURE:KEN HERTZ
That is right, Revver was a good idea.
But it was handled in quite a disastrous style
by a pair of lawyers Ken Hertz and Fred Goldring
I think their names are. I used to work there,
and these guys tried to be 'creative' and 'marketers' for the web, but ..like the lawyer
folks who killed the music biz...they don't have
that skill set ! They alienated everyone, and
now have to sell it at firesale for nothing,
at great loss to investors. What kind of smart
busniess sensese is that? Not very good mssrs
Goldring and Hertz ! THose guys are not very smart, and too bad for Revver and Steven Starr,
if only he had better judgement finding legal
partners than those bunch of clowns...ya know
Revv at 04:26 PM on 02/15/08
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BLAME THE LAWYERS FOR FAILURE OF REVVER: KEN HERTZ
That is right, Revver was a good idea.
But it was handled in quite a disastrous style
by a pair of lawyers Ken Hertz and Fred Goldring
I think their names are. I used to work there,
and these guys tried to be 'creative' and 'marketers' for the web, but ..like the lawyer
folks who killed the music biz...they don't have
that skill set ! They alienated everyone, and
now have to sell it at firesale for nothing,
at great loss to investors. What kind of smart
busniess sensese is that? Not very good mssrs
Goldring and Hertz ! THose guys are not very smart, and too bad for Revver and Steven Starr,
if only he had better judgement finding legal
partners than those bunch of clowns...ya know