• D: All Things Digital, Wednesday, July 1, 2009 11:51 AM

Nobody seems to have noticed, but YouTube cofounder Steve Chen vacated his post as chief technology officer last fall, and has yet to be replaced, according to Peter Kafka. However, he remains employed by Google, which bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006. "Steve shifted his focus to help with some Google engineering projects. He's still involved with YouTube and invested in its success," YouTube spokesman Ricardo Reyes said via email.

Why hasn't Chen been replaced? Because, sources claim, the job no longer exists. The company's highest-ranking engineer is now Louis Perrochon, Kafka says, who has been with Google since 2003.

Chad Hurley, who cofounded YouTube with Chen and Jawed Karim in 2004, remains the company's CEO. "The fact that Chen's move has gone unreported until now should underscore that his departure didn't represent a major org chart reshuffling," Kafka says. There is no word on what Chen's responsibilities are at Google now.

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