I refused dozens of millions of dollars, several times, to keep VLC ad-free. I did not do it because I thought it was not moral and it was not the right thing to do.
Jean-Baptiste Kempf explains he repeatedly refused millions of dollars from shady ad companies to keep VLC free of ads and spyware, prioritizing ethics and the community over personal enrichment. ✦ AI generated
Jean-Baptiste Kempf · Lex Fridman · 2026-05-06 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 55:55
“As the legend goes, JB, you repeatedly turned down millions of dollars to keep VLC open source free for everyone without ads. So take me through the reasoning behind that decision of leaving millions of dollars on the table.”
I refuse dozens of millions of dollars, yes, several times. Yes, I could be a multimillionaire and be somewhere on the beach. Um, but I did not do it because I thought it was not moral and it was not the right thing to do. And this is very important for myself, is to be like, I work for the greater good, I work for people.
verbatim transcript · starts at 55:55
55:54VLC open source free for everyone without ads. So take me through the reasoning behind that decision of leaving millions of dollars on the table. - Yeah, that's like almost a meme, right, on Reddit or- - There literally is a meme on Reddit. - 9GAG and yeah, yeah. See, there's- - You looking like a wizard in the, in the VLC hat on Reddit. This is JB, the creator of VLC media player. He refused
56:24tens of millions of dollars in order to keep VLC ads free. Thanks, Jean-Baptiste Kempf. You can even summon him on Reddit. - Yeah. And usually if you see, right, it's usually like people tag me, right? And, and then there is me, and then like I say, "Good morning." I got twenty-four K upvotes, which is great, right? My karma on Reddit is amazing, at least on that account. So the question is,
56:49needs to be answered first, what is the story about VLC, right? Because yes, this is true, I refuse dozens of millions of dollars, yes, several times. Yes, I could be a multimillionaire and be somewhere on the beach. Um, but I did not do it because I thought it was not moral and it was not the right thing to do. And this is very important for myself, is to be like, I work for the greater
57:14good, I work for people, and I don't want-- It's not just by myself. But the reason is also because I did not feel that I'm completely legitimate to do that, and let me explain you why. VLC story is a very weird story. In France, we have university and we have a type of top colleges and those top of excellency schools are engineering schools, business schools, and basically lawyers and medical,
57:42right? But they're outside of university, and in order to enter those, you spend two years working like crazy math, physics to enter those best engineering schools. One of the schools is called the École Centrale Paris. It has changed name since, but it was called the École Centrale Paris. And because it was Centrale, they had to move it because it was too small after the World War II and, and they moved