Today Facebook announced they are going to acquire Oculus VR, makers of the Oculus Rift headset. Oculus, who hasn’t even released a commercial version of their headset, will join the social media giant in ways that people can’t even imagine right now.
Early this week, Disney announced they are purchasing Maker Studios who operates some of the most successful YouTube channels. The purchase price is half a billion dollars, which signals that making YouTube videos is no longer some small market venture. When a company that owns both Star Wars and Marvel decides to buy YouTube content creators, you know it’s something serious. Some of Maker’s founders, include Lisa Donovan and Kassem Gharaibeh. Donovan was one of YouTube’s first stars, who went under the name LisaNova. Gharaibeh, better known as KassemG, was filming videos for his channel on the beach just last month. I’m not sure how much of $500M they will both get but it’s a safe bet they are now millionaires several times over.
Both of these stories have confirmed what I’ve known for a long time now. Just working for someone else will never get you rich. Sure, you might wind up comfortable but not rich. The founders of Oculus and Maker got rich by being smart and working hard but they also had a piece of the action. They owned a stake in their fortunes.
If you want to be handsomely rewarded for you work, you need to have ownership in that work. Not every company will be bought out for millions but it’s something everyone should consider. How can you be part of something valuable?