Short answers, pulled from the story.
Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, and Steve Chen founded YouTube and uploaded the first video titled Me at the zoo on the 23rd of April 2005. The founders were former PayPal employees who gathered in a San Francisco apartment to solve the problem of sharing video files.
Google announced the acquisition of YouTube on the 9th of October 2006 for $1.65 billion in Google stock. The deal was finalized on the 13th of November 2006, making YouTube the second-most-visited website in the world.
Susan Wojcicki served as CEO of YouTube from February 2014 until she stepped down on the 16th of February 2023. She passed away from non-small-cell lung cancer on the 9th of August 2024.
The Content ID system was launched in June 2007 to automatically detect copyrighted material and give rights holders the choice to block, track, or monetize videos. This system allows videos to be monetized while disputes are in progress since April 2016.
Thailand, Morocco, Turkey, Pakistan, China, North Korea, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Eritrea, Sudan, and South Sudan have blocked access to YouTube due to political, religious, and social reasons. Specific blocks occurred in 2007 in Thailand and Morocco, and between 2008 and 2010 in Turkey and Pakistan.
YouTube generated $31.7 billion in advertising revenue in 2023, which was a 2% increase from the $31.1 billion reported in 2022. Combined revenue from advertising and subscriptions exceeded $50 billion from Q4 2023 to Q3 2024.