Want CNET to notify you of price drops and the latest stories?
X

Another executive shakeup at Revver

Video-sharing company sees CEO Steven Starr move to chairman. Company best known for paying videographers has seen employee exodus in last six months.

headshots_greg_sandoval_140x100.jpg
headshots_greg_sandoval_140x100.jpg
Greg Sandoval Former Staff writer
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. Based in New York, Sandoval is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at @sandoCNET.
Greg Sandoval

Video-sharing site Revver said Thursday that CEO Steven Starr has stepped down, in the company's second executive shakeup in the past six months.

One of the sector's pioneers in sharing revenue with videographers, Revver said in a statement that Kevin Wells, the company's chief operating officer takes over for Starr, who will now serve as Revver's chairman.

Revver competes in a crowded video-sharing market by billing itself as a friend to artists. But what many performers prize most is an audience. Revver's has never come close to the size of YouTube's, the sector's frontrunner.

Revver isn't alone. Nearly half of everyone who logged on at user-submitted video sites last year went to YouTube.

"I think we can all acknowledge that YouTube has won the big prize," said Thomas McInerney, shortly after he stepped down as CEO of video-sharing site Guba last December.

In the last few months, privately held Revver has seen the departure of much of its staff. Under Starr, the Los Angeles-based company also launched an effort to sign content-licensing deals with Hollywood studios but abruptly abandoned the plan after only a few months, according to former employees.

In December, Revver saw cofounders Ian Clarke and Oliver Luckett leave, as well as David Tenzer, a veteran Hollywood agent hired to help find licensing deals.