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Google’s $1 65 Billion Acquisition of YouTube: the Untold Story

After working at YouTube, in 2008 he launched a venture fund called Youniversity coinsmart review Ventures with partners Keith Rabois and Kevin Hartz, whose purpose is to finance projects by entrepreneurial university students. Through this fund, Karim was one of the first investors in Airbnb, the popular application dedicated to offering accommodation to individuals and tourists, which is now valued at $85 billion. Since the first video, Me at the Zoo, YouTube has grown exponentially into what it is today, a place where millions of strangers gather to create and watch content. The computer engineer met his partners when all three were working at PayPal in 1999. They often held informal meetings at coffee shops, Karim’s apartment, or Hurley’s garage in Menlo Park, California.

  • Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), the parent company of Google, owns several other companies in addition to the search engine giant.
  • Google announces the launch of YouTube Go, a new app targeting low-end devices, designed for offline viewing in countries where connectivity can be an issue.
  • The idea for the platform was born out of a difficulty in finding and sharing videos online.
  • It has witnessed—and facilitated—the birth of internet stardom, the empowerment of grassroots activism, the global dissemination of memes, and the unending quest to balance creative freedom with social responsibility.
  • YouTube has also survived the rise of other social networks such as Instagram and TikTok.
  • Studies and journalistic reports highlighted how watching one video on a polarizing topic often led to a chain of recommendations suggesting more incendiary viewpoints.

However, if creators want, they can also charge for subscriptions to their channels and sell products through YouTube’s commerce platform. YouTube is a  significant hub among online platforms, with an astonishing 2 billion active users worldwide. Every day, people watch billions of hours of videos on YouTube, making it a major part of our lives. At the time of the acquisition, Google already had its video-sharing platform, Google Video. However, YouTube was growing at a much faster pace and had a considerably larger user base. Recognizing YouTube’s potential, Google decided to acquire the platform to secure its future in the digital media landscape.

History

Back then, YouTube needed the users’ help to classify where their videos should appear. Now the algorithm takes care of categorizing videos and showing them to people who would be most likely to engage with the content. Since acquiring YouTube, Google has maintained a close relationship with the platform, continuously providing resources and support. YouTube has, over the years, integrated several Google services and functions, such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Google Drive, to help content creators optimize their channels and videos. The acquisition significantly impacted YouTube’s growth, as Google’s expertise and resources exponentially accelerated the platform’s development. Google helped improve the video-sharing platform’s speed, efficiency, and effectiveness, making it more accessible and user-friendly for global users.

YouTube was facing legal challenges from lawsuits and decided to sell to Google. In 2006, there wasn’t the same late-stage financing environment that we have Free signals for trading forex today. This vision allowed individuals worldwide to take control of their media presence, turning ordinary people into influencers who could voice their opinions, garner comments, and make headlines. This Site may contain sponsored content, advertisements, and third-party materials, for which Finbold expressly disclaims any liability. Also, whoever buys Alphabet stock becomes a partial owner of YouTube, It could be you, if you decide that such an investment would be a smart decision. Since YouTube is owned by Google, and the company is itself a subsidiary of Alphabet.

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This segmentation enhances performance evaluation and supports Alphabet’s ability to adapt to market opportunities. By maintaining control, the founders have guided Alphabet toward ventures that may not yield immediate returns but hold potential to redefine industries. This focus on innovation is evident in Alphabet’s significant R&D expenditures, supported by its strong cash position.

Technology

Protests and political uprisings also found amplification on YouTube, from the Arab Spring in 2010–2011 to Black Lives Matter demonstrations, with activists uploading raw footage that challenged mainstream narratives. Content moderation policies repeatedly came under fire for either going too far (stifling legitimate dissent) or not far enough (allowing harmful disinformation to flourish). YouTube has https://www.forex-world.net/ grown massively in popularity amongst young people since Ofcom first started monitoring it in 2007. Back then 46% of 12-15s who used the internet said they also used YouTube, this quickly increased to 69% by 2009, and is now more than 80%.

When did Google acquire YouTube?

The Google acquisition provided YouTube with the financial, technological, and legal resources to grow faster and fend off competitors. Bandwidth expenses, which could crush a start-up, became manageable under Google’s infrastructure. Moreover, Google’s global reach and robust advertising networks laid the groundwork for YouTube’s future monetization strategies. By 2007, YouTube launched in nine localized versions outside the United States, planting the seeds of a truly worldwide platform.

Copyright issues

  • It’s Jawed Karim, one of the three co-founders of YouTube, who posted the first-ever video on YouTube, titled ‘Me at the zoo’, an 18-second clip filmed at the San Diego Zoo.
  • On May 17, 2018, YouTube announced the rebranding of the YouTube Red service as YouTube Premium.
  • However, YouTube was growing at a much faster pace and had a considerably larger user base.
  • So much content owned by music labels and movie studios was showing up on YouTube that the employees couldn’t take it down fast enough.
  • Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin formed Alphabet to allow for autonomy in their various business ventures and to separate Google’s core internet business from its other innovative projects.
  • Google is owned by Alphabet Inc., a multinational conglomerate that also owns other companies such as Nest, Calico, and Verily.
  • YouTube Go, an app providing offline video access, is set to be shutting down in August 2022.

The number of videos available at the site surpassed 25 million in March 2006, with more than 20,000 new videos uploaded on a daily basis. By the summer of 2006, YouTube was serving more than 100 million videos per day, and the number of videos being uploaded to the site showed no sign of slowing down. The close relationship between the two brands has allowed YouTube to integrate multiple Google services, enhancing its offering to users and content creators alike. A major portion of Alphabet’s Class A and Class C shares held by major institutional investors like Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street is due to their extensive ETF offerings. ETFs, index funds, and low-fee passive investing have become popular with investors who see them as a way to avoid high fees from managed funds that, in most cases, don’t even beat the market.

Its innovative business model, robust security and safety system, and key features have made it a leader in the online video space. However, YouTube has faced several controversies and challenges over the years, and it continues to face regulatory challenges and other obstacles. YouTube’s revenue model is based on advertising, which generates the majority of its revenue. The site has a vast user base, and advertisers pay to reach this audience. YouTube also generates revenue from its YouTube Premium service, which offers ad-free videos and exclusive content.

This subscription service provides advertisement-free access to YouTube content. By doing so, YouTube entered the broadcast business and started streaming a wide range of live content, from concerts and the royal wedding to news coverage and the Olympics. Congress launching its official Congressional YouTube channels in January 2009, many American citizens gained access to the government like never before, and YouTube became mainstream. The Vatican followed the lead and launched its own YouTube channel a month later. We spend a lot of time researching and writing our articles and strive to provide accurate, up-to-date content.

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