{"id":41011,"date":"2023-12-25T11:26:31","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T11:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/famoid.com\/?p=41011"},"modified":"2026-01-03T12:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T12:47:19","slug":"who-owns-youtube","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/famoid.com\/blog\/who-owns-youtube\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Owns YouTube? (Complete Story)"},"content":{"rendered":"

YouTube is undoubtedly the most popular video streaming platform in the entire world.<\/span><\/p>\n

As of 2023, it currently has 2.3 billion active users<\/span><\/strong> on the platform, and 52% of all internet users open YouTube at least once a month.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s how huge YouTube<\/span><\/strong><\/a> is.<\/span><\/p>\n

We all can agree about how crucial YouTube is in our day-to-day lives. Whether we want to learn how to bake a cake or learn a new programming language, YouTube has completely changed the way humans used to consume information.<\/span><\/p>\n

And what\u2019s even more crazier is you can consume all of this information completely free of cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

To be honest, humanity should be genuinely grateful to YouTube for giving us a new way of learning.<\/span><\/p>\n

But have you ever thought about who is behind this super genius invention of all time? And who owns YouTube?<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a hardcore YouTube user, you probably had this question inside your mind for ages.<\/span><\/p>\n

But today, we\u2019re going to bust it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

In this post, we\u2019ll discuss and find out who owns YouTube and how this platform actually got started.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, without wasting any further time, let\u2019s dive right in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who Owns YouTube?<\/b><\/h2>\n

So, first things first, let\u2019s unveil the mystery.<\/span><\/p>\n

YouTube is an American social media and video-sharing platform currently owned by Google\u2019s parent company, Alphabet Inc<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apart from YouTube, Alphabet Inc. owns many large brands, such as Google Search, Android, Double Click (currently known as Google Ads), Gmail, and Fitbit.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2006, Google acquired YouTube for a whopping $1.65 billion from its founders within two years of its inception.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before YouTube, there wasn\u2019t any big video-sharing platform out there in the market, but when YouTube launched, it created a massive buzz among the users, which skyrocketed the platform\u2019s growth overnight.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between 2005 (when YouTube was launched) and 2006 (when Google acquired it), it received an average of 100 million views daily, and 65,000 brand-new videos were getting published on the platform daily.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Google acquired YouTube, many experts were saying that Google overpaid for it and it was a wrong move.<\/span><\/p>\n

But fast forward to today, YouTube is generating $29.3 billion yearly revenue for Google, which is nearly 11 times what they had paid to acquire YouTube.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is probably one of the most profitable acquisitions of all time in the tech industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

History of YouTube (How It Started)<\/b><\/h2>\n

YouTube is not founded by Google.<\/span><\/p>\n

They acquired it.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, the million-dollar question is: who actually founded it?<\/span><\/p>\n

YouTube was founded by three former employees of PayPal: Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Who<\/p>\n

On February 14, 2005, they launched the YouTube website with the aim of making video sharing easily accessible for everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an interview, the founders of YouTube, Hurley and Chen, said YouTube was originally started as a video-based online dating service inspired by Hot or Not. They created multiple posts on Craigslist asking attractive women to post their videos on YouTube in exchange for a $100 reward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, after this idea horribly failed, they decided to allow all kinds of video uploads on the platform, which planted the seed for YouTube.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first video was uploaded on YouTube on April 23, 2005, and was titled \u201cMe at the Zoo<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\u201d by one of their c0-founders, Jawed Karim. Currently, that video has 298 million views and 15 million likes.<\/span><\/p>\n

In May of that same year, they launched the beta version of the platform, and by December 15, 2005, the YouTube platform became officially available to the public.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time the site became public, it was already receiving around 8 million views daily.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though some people argue that YouTube was the first video-sharing platform on the internet, the truth is Vimeo was already launched for the public in November 2004. However, for a very long time, Vimeo was just a hobby project for its founders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who is The Current CEO of YouTube?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Neel Mohan<\/a><\/span><\/strong> is the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of YouTube.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neel joined Google almost 15 years ago as part of his former company Double Click\u2019s acquisition.<\/span><\/p>\n

After working as senior vice president of Google\u2019s display and video ads division, Neel was promoted to chief product officer of YouTube in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, Susan (Ex-CEO YouTube) and Neel have been working pretty closely to improve the user experience of YouTube and make it unbeatable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apart from his role as SVP and CPO, he also led the launch of YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, YouTube TV, and shorts.<\/span><\/p>\n

In February 2023, Susan Wojcicki<\/a><\/span><\/strong> stepped down as the CEO of YouTube after 9 long years of service. Neel was promoted to the CEO position of YouTube that same day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neel has always been one of the crucial parts of YouTube\u2019s core team that helped YouTube reach new heights.<\/span><\/p>\n

YouTube Revenue And Net Worth<\/b><\/h2>\n

In the beginning, the founders of YouTube had only one monetization channel in mind – ads.<\/span><\/p>\n

But after YouTube\u2019s acquisition, Google introduced many new features, such as YouTube Premium and YouTube Music, that led to a huge revenue spike for the company.<\/span><\/p>\n

YouTube\u2019s income has been increasing rapidly each year, and experts predict that in the coming years, it might surpass all other ways Google makes money.<\/span><\/p>\n

YouTube started generating revenue for Google from the year 2010. In the first year, YouTube generated a revenue of $800M+, and it has been constantly multiplying since then.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As per recent reports, in 2022, YouTube generated a revenue of $29.2 billion<\/a><\/span><\/strong> from all of its services, including YouTube ads. This revenue accounted for approximately 11.35% of Google\u2019s total revenue for the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

When it comes to the Net worth of YouTube, there is not really any public figure available as YouTube is owned by Google and does not have individual shareholders.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the brand value of YouTube is currently around $29.71 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n

FAQs Related to The Ownership of YouTube<\/b><\/h2>\n

Does Mark Zuckerberg own YouTube?<\/b><\/p>\n

No, Mark Zuckerberg does not own YouTube. Google owns it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Which is richer, Google or YouTube?<\/b><\/p>\n

Google owns YouTube, so YouTube can\u2019t be bigger or richer than Google itself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is YouTube bigger than Netflix?<\/b><\/p>\n

In terms of user base and revenue, YouTube is far bigger than Netflix or any other video streaming platform.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are there other stakeholders in YouTube?<\/b><\/p>\n

Google owns 100% of the stake in YouTube. And as Google is a listed company, there are plenty of Google stakeholders. If you own Google stock, you indirectly own YouTube stock, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Does YouTube have its own stock listed on the market?<\/b><\/p>\n

No, YouTube does not have its own stock listed on the market. YouTube is a private company owned by Alphabet Inc (Google).<\/span><\/p>\n

Is YouTube regulated by any government entity?<\/b><\/p>\n

No, as it\u2019s a privately held company, YouTube is not regulated by any government entity. However, YouTube does have to follow certain government guidelines in every part of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n

We hope you have a clear understanding of who owns YouTube now.<\/span><\/p>\n

Google acquired YouTube back in 2006, and since then, it has always been a crucial part of Google\u2019s overall business and revenue.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though Google paid a mind-blowing amount of $1.65 billion to acquire the video-sharing platform YouTube, Google has already made 100 times the return on its investment while still owning the company.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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