YouTube

Basic facts
Location:| San Bruno, Calif.
Type:| Limited Liability Company
Top official:| Neal Mohan, CEO
Founder(s):| Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, Jawed Karim
Year founded:| 2005
Website:| Official website

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Leadership
* 3 Work and activities
* 3.1 Presidential debates (2015-2016)
* 4 Finances
* 5 Recent news
* 6 See also
* 7 External links
* 8 Footnotes

YouTube is a limited liability company owned by Google Inc., a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. The company is based in San Bruno, Calif.[1][2]

## Background[edit]

YouTube was founded in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim.[3] According to a USA Today article, YouTube was created in response to the difficulty of locating online videos of the 2004 Asian tsunami and/or of Janet Jackson's Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction."[4] Karim uploaded the first YouTube video, called "Me at the Zoo," in April 2005.[5] Google purchased YouTube for $1.7 billion a year after its founding, and by its tenth year in 2015, YouTube was the third most popular web domain globally and received visits from about one billion people daily.[4][6][7] As of August 2025, YouTube was the second most viewed website in the world with nearly 52 billion monthly visits.[8]

On its website, YouTube says its mission is to "give everyone a voice and show them the world. We believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we listen, share and build community through our stories."[1]

Older YouTube logo

## Leadership[edit]

Neal Mohan became the CEO of YouTube in 2023.[9]

## Work and activities[edit]

### Presidential debates (2015-2016)[edit]

See also: Presidential debates (2015-2016)

On December 16, 2015, NBC News announced that it would co-host the fourth Democratic debate along with YouTube and the Congressional Black Caucus. NBC Nightly News Anchor Lester Holt moderated the debate, which took place from 9 to 11 p.m.[10] YouTube offered online viewing of the debate at YouTube.com and NBCNews.com, with coverage beginning at 8 p.m.[11]

## Finances[edit]

Google Inc., a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, owns YouTube. The company's stock is traded publicly as GOOG on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange. GOOG's closing stock price on August 5, 2025, was $195.75.[1][12]

## Recent news[edit]

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms YouTube Company. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

YouTube - Google News

## See also[edit]

* What is an influencer?
* Charleston, South Carolina NBC News/CBC Democratic debate (January 17, 2016)
* San Bruno, Calif.

## External links[edit]

* Google website
* YouTube Facebook
* on Instagram
* YouTube on LinkedIn
* YouTube on X

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 YouTube, "About YouTube," accessed January 14, 2016
2. ↑ YouTube, "Contact Us," accessed January 14, 2016
3. ↑ TechCrunch, "Chad Hurley's Take From The Sale Of YouTube: $334 Million," March 18, 2010
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 USA Today, "Surprise! There's a third YouTube co-founder," October 11, 2006
5. ↑ AllThingsD, "The Numbers Behind the World’s Fastest-Growing Web Site: YouTube’s Finances Revealed," March 19, 2010
6. ↑ Google, "Company," accessed January 14, 2016
7. ↑ The Economist, "YouTube's Birthday Make a Wish," April 23, 2015
8. ↑ Backlinko, "Top 100 Most Visited Websites in the World," July 30, 2025
9. ↑ The Times of India, "Who is Neal Mohan? An Indian-American to become CEO of YouTube," February 17, 2023
10. ↑ Politico, "NBC and YouTube to co-host Democratic debate on Jan. 17," December 16, 2015
11. ↑ NBC News, "How to Watch the NBC News-YouTube Democratic Debate," January 15, 2016
12. ↑ NASDAQ, "GOOG," accessed January 14, 2016

v • e

Influencers

Main|

What is an influencer? Contact the Ballotpedia team