Which co-founder of YouTube served as its first CEO?

Chad Hurley served as YouTube’s first chief executive officer. He was one of the company’s three co-founders, alongside Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, and led YouTube from its founding in 2005 until 2010.

Before YouTube, Hurley worked in PayPal’s division, where he helped design the original PayPal logo. His design background influenced YouTube’s early user experience, while Chen and Karim contributed heavily to the engineering and product-development side. Hurley was especially associated with the site’s tagging and video-sharing features.

Google acquired YouTube in October 2006 for approximately $1.65 billion in Google stock. Hurley continued as CEO after the acquisition, helping guide the young video platform through its rapid expansion. In 2010, he stepped down from the CEO role and became an adviser. Salar Kamangar succeeded him as YouTube’s CEO.

A frequent confusion is identifying Susan Wojcicki as YouTube’s first CEO. She became CEO much later, in 2014, after serving as a senior Google executive and overseeing YouTube’s advertising business.