Social media has drastically changed the lives of everyone across the globe in the last twenty years. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat have connected people and brought them closer. The yawning gulf in terms of geography is now nearly non-existent.
Amidst a huge number of social media and video streaming platforms, YouTube has carved a league of its own as one of the oldest and the leading video sharing platforms. In fact, Youtube is also popularly hailed as the most visited website in the world after its parent organization, Google.
Youtube was founded by Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley, and Steve Chan on February 14, 2005. They are also popularly known as inventors of Youtube. Jawed Karim is an American software engineer and entrepreneur. He is of Bangladeshi and German descent. His contribution to the growth of Youtube is simply indispensable. The revenue of Youtube in 2021 was estimated to be over $160 billion.
Anyone with internet connectivity would have seen videos on YouTube at least once in their life. YouTube is the platform that gave birth to many sensations; without the video-sharing website, there would have been no T-Series, Pewdiepie, CarryMinati, and thousands of other video creators. The current Youtube CEO is Susan Wojcicki, who became the CEO of the American online video sharing and social media platform in February 2014.
Do you know that the first-ever video posted on Youtube was "Me at the zoo", which was uploaded by none other than Jawed Karim on April 23 2005. Jawed Karim's first video has been watched over 224 million times, as of March 2022. Let's look at the success story of the co-founder of Youtube, Jawed Karim. We will discuss his net worth, education, personal life, investments and more.
Jawed Karim - Biography
| Name | Jawed Karim |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 October 1979 - Merseburg, East Germany |
| Age | 42 |
| Net worth | $300 million |
| Nationality | American/German |
| Parents | Naimul Karim, Christine Karim |
| Siblings | Ilias Karim |
| Education | University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (BS), Stanford University (MS) |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Co-founder of YouTube, Uploader of the first video ever on YouTube |
| Youtube channel | Jawed |
Jawed Karim - Personal Life & Education
Jawed Karim - How he founded Youtube
Jawed Karim - First Youtube Video Ever
Jawed Karim - Growth of YouTube
Jawed Karim - Youtube Google Acquisition
Jawed Karim - Opposing Youtube's Decisions
Jawed Karim - Investments and Partnerships
Jawed Karim - Personal Life & Education
Jawed was born on October 28, 1979, in Merseburg, East Germany (Present-day Germany) to Christine Karim and Naimul Karim. His father is a researcher from Bangladesh, who works at 3M, while his mother is a German scientist associated with the University of Minnesota as a research professor of Biochemistry. He has one sibling, Ilias Karim.
Jawed Karim had to cross the border of inner Germany along with his family in the early 1980s due to increasing xenophobia there. He grew up in Neuss, West Germany. However, there were several xenophobic episodes that he had to face there as well, which is why he again had to move with his family to Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1992. It was from Saint Paul Central High School that Karim graduated in 1997.
Jawed enrolled at the University of Illinois in the Department of Computer Science. Jawed left the university before completing his graduation and joined PayPal; he was one of PayPal’s earliest employees. He later completed his graduation and obtained his degree in Computer Science in 2004. Jawed eventually joined Stanford University and earned his Master’s degree in Computer Science but that was after Youtube was founded.
Jawed Karim - How he founded Youtube
At PayPal, he met Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, the other two creators of Youtube. The absence of video clips of Super Bowl XXXVIII and the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami gave Jawed the idea of a video-sharing platform. The controversial half-time segment of the Super Bowl with Janet Jackson was a rage at that time that everyone wanted to have a glimpse of. However, Hurley and Chen have mentioned the website “Hot or Not” as the motivation behind creating YouTube. Whatever may have been the inspiration, we are glad to have YouTube today!
After the necessary measures and steps were in place, the ‘YouTube’ domain name was activated on 14th February 2005. After receiving the funding of $3.5 million from Sequoia Capital they launched the Youtube beta site in May 2005.
A series of developments followed. Later, the company commenced as a venture capital-funded technology startup. The company again received funding of 80 million USD from Sequoia Capital and Artis Capital management. The funding helped YouTube in various ways and not just financially. Initially, the company was headquartered in San Mateo, California, right above a Japanese restaurant.
Jawed Karim - First Youtube Video Ever
The first YouTube channel was “Jawed” by Karim, and the first-ever video on YouTube was a video uploaded by him and titled “Me at the zoo”. This video was recorded by his high school friend Yakov Lapitsky. The Youtube owner's video featured Karim at the San Diego Zoo. The video has more than 218 million views to date.
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Jawed Karim - Growth of YouTube
In 2005 itself, YouTube got its first one million views video, a Nike advertisement featuring the legendary Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho. The video showed Ronaldinho receiving his pair of “Golden Boots”.
Following a broadcast of “Lazy Sunday”, fans started posting the clips of the show on YouTube. The clips received more than 7 million views. However, NBC (The Media Company) demanded the videos be pulled off from YouTube.
This incident paved the way for the Content Verification Program under YouTube’s policy. It allowed copyright holders to easily identify the infringements. After a few ugly spats, YouTube made a deal with NBC. This deal helped NBC enter the world of digital broadcasting. And, this was just the beginning of YouTube’s several partnerships with industry bigshots.
Jawed Karim - Youtube Google Acquisition
After launching YouTube, YouTube founder Jawed Karim became an informal adviser instead of an employee to the company as he wanted to complete his studies, subsequently joining Stanford University. Comparatively, He took a lower share in the company than other co-founders, Steve Chan and Chad Hurley.
Much of the time, he remained unrecognized by the general public until Google’s arrival. It was only when Youtube was sold to Google for nearly $1.65 billion in the year 2006 that Karim again came around in the news.
This small share still proved large enough to let him receive close to 137,443 shares, worth around $64 million, as per the closing stock price at the closing of the famous Google acquisition of YouTube. Currently, the net worth of Jawed Karim is $300 million.
Jawed Karim delivered a lecture in the year 2006 at the annual ACM Conference of the University of Illinois on YouTube’s history, which was titled "YouTube From Concept to Hyper growth". Furthermore, Karim came back to the University of Illinois in May 2008, where he was again selected as the speaker, thereby becoming the 136th and the youngest Commencement Speaker in the history of the school.
Jawed Karim - Opposing Youtube's Decisions
In 2013, Google made major changes to its policy. A user needed a Google+ to account for posting a comment on any YouTube video. The move faced backlash and was widely opposed by the YouTube community. To voice discontent against the new policy, an online petition was signed by a number of users.
The petition gained around 240,000 signatures. Karim too was not in favour of the policy change; to oppose the Google+ intervention, he updated the video description on his first video to “I can’t comment here anymore, as I don’t want a Google+ account”.
After the protests from the YouTube community, Google apologized for forcing Google+ users to use their real names, and subsequently, Google dropped the policy of integration of Google+ with YouTube. In 2018, Google permanently disabled Google+ services after it failed in both consumer and developer adoption.
Karim also criticized the recent move of removal of dislike count on YouTube. He expressed When every YouTuber agrees that removing dislikes is a stupid idea, it probably is. Try again, Youtube.
Jawed Karim - Investments and Partnerships
Karim launched Youniversity Ventures in March 2008 in partnership with Kevin Hartz and Keith Rabois. In April 2009, he invested in the initial Seed round of Airbnb Inc. Karim became one of the initial investors of the company.
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Conclusion
Jawed Karim’s story is an example of it coming down to identifying a niche and then working on it and is undoubtedly inspiring for the entrepreneurs of today. A video-sharing platform may be mainstream today but that wasn’t the case in the early 2000s. When Youtube came into being Karim would always be a prominent face of Youtube.
Besides, whenever one would Google or Youtube "the first Youtube video", it would only feature “Me at the Zoo" by Jawed Karim as the first Youtube video ever. Besides, Karim had a major say in many crucial YouTube decisions, including the one to collaborate with companies like Google and NBC, which can undoubtedly be marked as some of the most significant reasons behind the popularity that YouTube enjoys today. No one could fathom that a small video showing a guy introducing an elephant at the zoo would change video sharing and streaming forever!
FAQs
Who owns YouTube?
The parent company of YouTube is Google. Google purchased Youtube in November 2006 for $1.65 billion in stocks.
Who is the founder of YouTube?
Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley, and Steve Chen are the founders of YouTube.
How much was YouTube sold for?
Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in stocks in November 2006.
Who are Steve Chen and Jawed Karim and what are they known for?
Steve Chen and Jawed Karim are the co-founders of YouTube and is known for founding the popular video-sharing platform in 2005.
What is the net worth of Jawed Karim?
The net worth of Jawed Karim is approximately $300 million as of 2022.
How old is Jawed Karim?
Jawed Karim was born in October 1979 and is 42 years old.
Source :- https://startuptalky.com/ Author :- Rishabh Rathi Date :-March 21, 2022 at 11:00AM