Smosh, the sketch comedy YouTube channel previously owned by Defy Media, has been acquired by Mythical Entertainment, the company founded by YouTuber’s Rhett McLaughlin and Charles Lincoln “Link” Neal.
Smosh has been without a parent company after Defy Media shut down in November 2018. The company confirmed its acquisition in a video announcement posted to its YouTube account, which has over 7 billion video views and over 24 million subscribers.
“We had no idea what was going to happen with Smosh,” said Smosh co-founder Ian Hecox while surrounded by members of the sketch comedy cast.
“The situation got so bad that we weren’t even sure that Smosh was going to continue to be a thing, [and] we didn’t want to continue if Smosh ended up in the wrong hands,” Smosh cast member Courtney Miller said.
“Now we can announce that Rhett & Link have bought Smosh and made us apart of Mythical entertainment, which we are so excited about because they are creators helping creators,” Hecox added.
Smosh’s sub-brands, including Smosh Games, will also move under the Mythical Entertainment umbrella along with a newly announced podcast dubbed SmoshCast.
Founded in 2006 by childhood friends Hecox and Anthony Padilla, Smosh was initially where Hecox and Padilla would post videos of themselves lip-syncing theme songs from popular TV shows including “The Power Rangers” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” The duo moved into sketch comedy and posted their videos on YouTube, where they built their following. In 2011, the company was acquired by Defy Media, which was then known as Alloy Digital.
In 2017, after helping to expand the Smosh brand to include Smosh Games, El Smosh, and Shut Up! Cartoons, Padilla left the company to pursue his own video venture due to not being as “creatively excited” under Defy Media.
Check out the announcement video above.