"Once upon a dream"
And that dream became a reality when Shay started out making videos on Youtube and then started Maker Studios with a few friends he met up with in LA. When they realized how big the company was becoming they had the thought that maybe they could one day sell it. Time Warner was a big investor in Maker Studios early on and then Disney just purchased them for a whopping 550 Million dollars, but Shay says not to get too excited, because there are other investors and shareholders that will get a chunk of that pot of gold.
"My mom sent me the front page of the article in the Idaho State Journal, it was like ex Pocatelloan has Five Hundred Million reasons to celebrate, I'm like NO! I don't have Five hundred million dollars. I get like a fraction of that, like Four hundred and Ninety Eight Million,” jokingly says Co-founder of Maker Studios, Shay Butler.
Shay may be richer now then he was five years ago when he couldn't even afford toilet paper and had to borrow some from Taco Bell.
"So yes there was a time in our life where we were struggling to try to figure out what we were going to do, that we took a few rolls of toilet paper from the Taco Bell bathroom, and I am not proud of that, but they caused a lot of other things with their Bean Burritos, so I think they owed me a few rolls of toilet paper, if you know what I am saying. They are delicious though, I love Taco Bell, am I going to get sued for that,” asks Butler.
Speaking of getting sued and getting a piece of that burrito, Shay's friend, Maker Studios co-founder and ex-CEO Danny Zappin filed a lawsuit seeking to block a shareholder vote on Disney Acquisition.
"But I can say that it sometimes a sad story, it's a tale as old as time when money and success get involved and friends get in business together, you know misunderstanding can happen,” says Butler.
Despite the lawsuit, Shay says the deal with Disney will still go through and will be a win, win situation for everyone, and even with all of his success, he says that him and his family will not live the fairytale life.
"We are not going to get crazy and have Crystal. My wife though, she spends a little bit more money at Ross than she should have the other day. Collette, I don't care if those are two for one bags, you need to watch it,” jokingly warns Butler.
Shay says the lawsuit brought on my Zappin, was not approved by the judge and the deal with Disney will go through.
Shay says he has many more adventures to come, one of which is a documentary they are making on how vlogging became his job.
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