YouTube: Five Years On

YouTube: Five Years On

As YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley steps own as CEO, Kipp takes a closer look at the journey of this billion-dollar company from its infancy as a quirky project.

November 2, 2010 4:05 by Eva Fernandes

I remember the first time I ever used Youtube: I was 15 and was being shown the site by one of my very tech-savvy friends who was shocked I hadn’t seen it before. More fascinated by language than technology, I remember chuckling at the smart name of the site. Little did I know, that YouTube, would go on to become the number-one location to view videos and to be viewed (teen R&B singer Justin Bieber, Glee-starlet Charice Pempengco and Journey front man Arnel Pineda are just a few number of the people who shot to international fame after YouTube videos of them singing were discovered online). In the news perpetually for launching in a new country, upgrading its players, being acquired by Google for a billion dollars, YouTube is in the news again this week as co-founder and CEO Chad Hurley steps down. Kipp takes a closer look at the website.

Wardrobe malfunction: The initial spark

YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim says he got the idea for YouTube when he searched, in vain, for videos. What was he searching for, you may ask? What event do we have to thank for the invention of the video online revolution?

Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction and the tsunami of 2004. Speaking then to his fellow employees at PayPal, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, the three decided to start up the site and the rest is pretty much history. The site’s popularity developed as users discovered the merit of being able to view a video without having to download it. As the list of users and subscribers grew into the millions, YouTube was acquired by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion.

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Tags: internet, Youtube, youtube acquisition, youtube advertising, youtube google, YouTube online