YouTube is the world's largest video-sharing platform, founded on February 14, 2005 by former PayPal employees Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. Headquartered in San Bruno, California, YouTube hosts user-uploaded long-form video, short-form Shorts, livestreams, and creator-led content across every conceivable topic — from entertainment and music to education, news, gaming, and how-to.
Google acquired YouTube on November 13, 2006 for $1.65 billion in stock, making it a subsidiary of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL, GOOG). With over 2.7 billion monthly logged-in users and more than a billion hours of video watched daily, YouTube is one of the most-visited websites globally — second only to 📝Google itself — and the primary discovery and distribution channel for the modern creator economy. Its recommendation algorithm, monetization tiers (YouTube Partner Program, Super Chat, Channel Memberships), and adjacent products (YouTube Premium, YouTube TV, YouTube Music, YouTube Studio) make it both an entertainment platform and the dominant publishing infrastructure for video creators, competing with 📝Tiktok and 📝Instagram in short-form and with Twitch in livestream.