YouTube was invented by three former PayPal employees: Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim in February 2005.

Quick Scoop: Who Invented YouTube?

  • Inventors: Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, Jawed Karim.
  • When: The site was founded/registered on February 14, 2005, in California.
  • Background: All three had worked at PayPal before starting YouTube.
  • Original idea: A video-based dating site called “Tune In, Hook Up,” which quickly pivoted into a general video-sharing platform.

Mini Timeline

  1. Late 2004: Idea for a video-dating site where users upload short clips.
  1. February 14, 2005: YouTube.com domain activated and company founded by Hurley, Chen, and Karim.
  1. April 23, 2005: First ever YouTube video (“Me at the zoo”) is uploaded.
  1. May 2005: Public beta launches; it becomes a general video-sharing site.
  1. October 2006: Google acquires YouTube for about 1.65 billion dollars in stock.

Fast Facts Table

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Question Answer
Who invented YouTube? Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim.
When was YouTube founded? February 14, 2005.
Where was it founded? San Mateo / San Bruno area in California, United States.
What was the first concept? A video dating site (“Tune In, Hook Up”).
Who owns YouTube now? Google (Alphabet), after buying it in 2006.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.