YouTube is a web-based video-sharing website founded in San Francisco, California
Three former PayPal executives, Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, and Steve Chen, founded the company in January 2005. Today, YouTube boasts nearly five million users. Google purchased the website for $1.65 billion in November 2006; YouTube currently operates as an independent subsidiary of the search giant. With an estimated fifty million users, YouTube already represents the most popular website in terms of traffic.
The website began as a way for Internet users to post short clips to share with friends and family. Today, YouTube features more than two hundred thousand videos, making it the largest film archive in the world. The videos are categorized according to categories like music videos, sport videos, movies, comedy videos, educational videos, home videos, and even educational videos. Users can also upload their own videos. To date, YouTube has hosted more than forty-five thousand videos, making it the most visited website by daily visitors.