# Who Made YouTube? The Founders, the First Video and Google's Purchase

> YouTube was made by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim in 2005. The first video, why Google bought it for $1.65 billion, and who runs YouTube today.

Canonical: https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/who-made-youtube
Last updated: 2026-10-28

Category: YouTube. 

YouTube was made by **Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim**, three former PayPal employees, in 2005. The youtube.com domain was registered on **February 14, 2005**, the first video, "Me at the zoo", was uploaded by Karim on **April 23, 2005**, and the site launched publicly later that year. **Google** bought YouTube in late 2006 for **$1.65 billion** in stock, and it has been part of Google, now under Alphabet, ever since. Today YouTube is run by CEO **Neal Mohan**.

Here's the short history.

## YouTube's founders

| Founder | Role at YouTube | Background |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Chad Hurley | CEO until 2010 | Designer at PayPal; designed YouTube's look and logo |
| Steve Chen | Chief technology officer | Engineer at PayPal; built much of the site's infrastructure |
| Jawed Karim | Adviser; uploaded the first video | Engineer at PayPal; left to return to university |

Hurley and Chen ran the company day to day. Karim stepped back before the Google sale and kept a smaller stake.

## How YouTube started

In early 2005, there was no easy way to share a video online: files were too large to email, and most sites required special software to play them. The founders' idea was a site where anyone could upload a clip and get a link or an embeddable player that worked in any browser.

The founders have told different versions of the origin story over the years, from a dinner party video that was hard to share to an early idea of a video dating site ("Tune In, Hook Up"). What isn't disputed is that the team quickly dropped the dating idea and opened the site to any video.

## The first YouTube video

**"Me at the zoo"** is 19 seconds long. Jawed Karim stands in front of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo and notes that they have "really, really, really long trunks." It's still on his channel, jawed, and has hundreds of millions of views.

## When Google bought YouTube

YouTube grew fast: by mid-2006 it was one of the most visited sites on the web. Google, whose own Google Video service was struggling, announced it would buy YouTube in **October 2006** for **$1.65 billion** in stock, and the deal closed in November 2006. YouTube kept its brand and stayed in San Bruno, California, where its headquarters still is.

## Who runs YouTube now

| Years | CEO |
| --- | --- |
| 2005 to 2010 | Chad Hurley |
| 2010 to 2014 | Salar Kamangar |
| 2014 to 2023 | Susan Wojcicki |
| 2023 to present | Neal Mohan |

Neal Mohan, previously YouTube's chief product officer, took over in February 2023 when Susan Wojcicki stepped down. YouTube is owned by Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc., so YouTube itself isn't publicly traded; you can only invest through Alphabet's shares.

## YouTube today

YouTube is the world's largest video platform, with long videos, Shorts, live streams and music under one roof, and creators earn money through the YouTube Partner Program. If you're building a channel, our guides to [when YouTube starts paying you](https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/when-does-youtube-start-paying-you) and the [best time to post on YouTube](https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/best-time-to-post-on-youtube) are good next reads, and the [YouTube scheduler page](https://scheduleforyou.com/youtube) shows how to plan uploads and Shorts alongside your other channels.

## Frequently asked questions

### Who is the founder of YouTube?
YouTube has three founders: Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. Hurley was its first CEO.

### When was YouTube made?
The domain was registered on February 14, 2005, the first video was uploaded on April 23, 2005, and the site launched publicly in late 2005.

### How much did Google pay for YouTube?
$1.65 billion in stock. The deal was announced in October 2006 and closed in November 2006.

### Who owns YouTube today?
Google, which is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Neal Mohan is YouTube's CEO.

### What was the first video on YouTube?
"Me at the zoo", a 19-second clip of Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo, uploaded April 23, 2005.

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