Google acquired YouTube in 2006 to obtain the rapidly growing video-sharing service YouTube.
YouTube was founded in 2005 by former PayPal employees Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. Google announced the acquisition on October 9, 2006, in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $1.65 billion. YouTube continued operating under its own brand while gaining Google's infrastructure, advertising capabilities, and global reach.
The acquisition illustrates a recurring Silicon Valley pattern: a large platform buys a young company whose user growth and technology are developing faster than the parent could build internally. YouTube's first video, “Me at the zoo,” was uploaded by Karim on April 23, 2005. Google later became part of Alphabet in 2015, but YouTube remained one of Google's major products rather than becoming a separate Alphabet company.