Skip to main content

Verizon is acquiring — and shutting down — former Hulu CEO’s startup, Vessel

Early last year, former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar launched Vessel, a video startup aimed at taking on YouTube. While the brand struggled to catch on with viewers, the company must have done something right, because it has been acquired by Verizon. Unfortunately, there is also a catch: Verizon plans to shut the business down.

“Though the team and the actual tech and product will live on at Verizon in ways that will become apparent in the months and years ahead, sadly we will be sunsetting the Vessel service at the end of this month,” the Vessel team wrote in a blog post. “All subscribers of Vessel will be provided complimentary access for the month of October, and subscribers of our annual plan will be refunded back to the beginning of October.”

Recommended Videos

Vessel co-founder and chief technology officer Richard Tom will continue to operate in a similar capacity as he has been, leading the technical end of things. Kilar’s focus will be helping smooth the Vessel’s team transition to working within Verizon.

When it launched, Vessel planned to draw popular creators away from YouTube by offering them more cash. This might have drawn a few creators, but in general, the company hardly put a dent in YouTube’s massive subscriber base, making it tough to draw creators, even with the promise of more money. Even with its troubles attracting viewers, the company managed to raise a fair amount of money. The company reportedly had planned a pivot and had secured deals with various content creators just prior to the announcement of its acquisition by Verizon.

Verizon plans to hire most of Vessel’s staff, and will use its technology to push its own video ambitions forward, but hasn’t shared any details on what exactly it plans to do. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is expected to close within a month’s time.

Kris Wouk
Former Contributor
Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…
8 key things you need to know from Apple’s WWDC 2025 event
From a fresh look and updated names, to new features, more intelligence and live translation
iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS 26 shown on devices.

The WWDC 2025 keynote ran for just over an hour and a half. For those of you who don't fancy sitting through the whole presentation, we've pulled out the key things you need to know from the latest Apple event.

1. Welcome to the 26 club

Read more
This 85-inch Toshiba 4K TV is only $650 today after a 46% discount
The Toshiba C350 Series 4K TV on a white background.

If you've always wanted a massive screen for your home theater setup, you need to check out one of the most interesting TV deals that we've recently seen: the 85-inch Toshiba C350 Series 4K TV for only $650, for savings of $550 on its original price of $1,200. The 46% discount is a limited-time offer though, and if it caught our attention, there's also probably a lot of other shoppers who are considering taking advantage of this bargain. You'll miss out if you take too long to think about it!

Why you should buy the 85-inch Toshiba C350 Series 4K TV

Read more
WWDC 2025: Apple announces iOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26 and more
Major updates to iOS, macOS, watchOS, iPadOS, tvOS and visionOS
WWDC 2025 logo

Apple kicked off WWDC 2025 with its keynote presentation at its annual World Wide Developer's conference, and it was a bumper affair.

We were treated to a raft of updates across all of the firm's software platforms, as we were introduced to iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26.

Read more