Who Owns YouTube? Google, Alphabet, and the Story Behind the Deal

Google owns YouTube, and Google is owned by Alphabet Inc. Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion in stock. Today, YouTube is part of Alphabet’s Google Services business, and Alphabet is a public company whose founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, control about 52.7% of the votes.

So when you ask who owns YouTube, the answer has three layers: Google owns it, Alphabet owns Google, and Alphabet’s shareholders own Alphabet. Below, I explain each layer, the 2006 deal, the founders, the CEO, and what YouTube is worth today, using SEC filings and company reports.

Key Takeaways

• Google owns YouTube. Google’s parent company is Alphabet Inc., which trades on the Nasdaq.
• Google closed its purchase of YouTube on November 13, 2006, paying $1.65 billion in stock.
• YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim.
• Neal Mohan has been YouTube’s CEO since February 2023.
• YouTube’s revenue passed $60 billion in 2025 across ads and subscriptions.

Who Owns YouTube?

Google LLC owns YouTube, and Alphabet Inc. is its ultimate parent company. YouTube does not have its own shareholders. It sits inside Google Services, one of Alphabet’s business segments, alongside Search, Android, Chrome, and Gmail.

Here is how the YouTube ownership chain works:

Who is YouTube owned by in 2026? The structure has not changed. Alphabet’s largest voting holders are Larry Page (27.4% of the votes) and Sergey Brin (25.3%), according to Alphabet’s 2026 proxy statement. We break down every major shareholder in our guide on who owns Google.

Why do owner and CEO get mixed up? They are different jobs. Google owns YouTube. Neal Mohan runs it day to day. Page and Brin control the votes at the parent company. For me, keeping those three roles apart is the key to understanding YouTube.

Does Google Own YouTube?

Yes, Google owns 100% of YouTube. YouTube became part of Google when the 2006 deal closed, and it stayed with Google when Google created Alphabet as its parent in 2015.

Does Alphabet own YouTube? Yes, indirectly. Alphabet owns Google, and Google owns YouTube. That is why Alphabet reports YouTube’s ad revenue in its quarterly results.

Is YouTube publicly traded? No. YouTube has no stock of its own. The only way to own a piece of YouTube is to buy Alphabet shares, Class A (GOOGL) or Class C (GOOG), on the Nasdaq.

When Did Google Buy YouTube?

Google announced the deal on October 9, 2006, and closed it on November 13, 2006. YouTube was less than two years old at the time.

Source: Google’s closing press release, filed with the SEC.

How much did Google buy YouTube for? The headline price was $1.65 billion. About $15 million of that came from money Google funded to YouTube between signing and closing. Based on Google’s share price at the close that day, TechCrunch calculated the deal was worth $1.775 billion to YouTube’s shareholders.

At the time, YouTube co-founder and CEO Chad Hurley said, “we are staying on the same course.” For me, that promise mattered. Google kept YouTube as its own brand, and that brand is now worth far more than the price paid. A well-known brand that rivals cannot copy is a classic competitive advantage.

Who Founded YouTube?

YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, three former PayPal employees. Tubefilter reported that the founders first imagined it as a video dating site before it became a home for all kinds of videos.

What was the first YouTube video? Karim uploaded “Me at the zoo,” filmed at the San Diego Zoo, on April 23, 2005. The site opened to the public on May 19, 2005, according to Network World.

Do the founders still own YouTube? No. They sold YouTube to Google in 2006 and were paid in Google stock. Today, Alphabet’s proxy does not list any of them among its holders of more than 5% of a voting share class.

Who Is the CEO of YouTube?

Neal Mohan is the CEO of YouTube. He took over on February 16, 2023, after serving as YouTube’s longtime chief product officer.

He replaced Susan Wojcicki, who had worked at Google since 1998 and led YouTube from 2014. When she stepped down, she moved to an advisory role across Google and Alphabet, Tubefilter reported.

YouTube is part of Google, whose CEO is Sundar Pichai. Pichai is also CEO of Alphabet. So YouTube has its own CEO, but it operates inside Google and its parent.

How Much Is YouTube Worth?

YouTube does not have its own stock price, so there is no official value. The best guides are its revenue and analyst estimates.

What does the $550 billion estimate mean? MoffettNathanson based it on comparing YouTube’s revenue with other media companies. It is an estimate, not a price anyone has paid. Still, for me, the gap is striking: Google paid $1.65 billion, and analysts now see a business that may be worth hundreds of times more. Its 15.8% viewing share is also why YouTube tops our list of Netflix competitors.

YouTube also earns from subscriptions such as YouTube Premium and YouTube Music. Alphabet does not break out a YouTube-only subscriber count. In February 2026, Pichai said Google had “over 325 million paid subscriptions across consumer services, led by strong adoption for Google One and YouTube Premium.”

How Has YouTube’s Ownership Changed Over Time?

Through all of these changes, one thing has stayed the same since 2006: Google has owned 100% of YouTube.

Who Owns YouTube TV?

Google owns YouTube TV, because it is a YouTube service. YouTube TV is a paid live TV service. It crossed 10 million subscribers in late 2025, according to multiple reports cited by Cord Cutters News, and started at $82.99 a month at the time.

Why does YouTube TV matter for the owner? It gives Google a seat at the table with big TV companies. In late 2025, Disney’s channels, including ESPN and ABC, went dark on YouTube TV for more than two weeks. The two sides then signed a multi-year deal that added ESPN’s Unlimited service at no extra cost to YouTube TV subscribers, Advanced Television reported.

For me, that standoff showed how much power Google now has in TV. A live TV service owned by a tech company pushed back on one of the biggest media firms and won new terms.

What Does Google’s Ownership Mean for YouTube in 2026?

YouTube is now the biggest name on US TV screens. It took a record 15.8% of US TV viewing in August 2026, more than twice Netflix’s 7.7%, according to Nielsen. Tubefilter reported that YouTube gets twice as much US TV watch time as any other platform.

The Oscars are moving to YouTube. In December 2025, the Academy said YouTube will stream the Oscars from 2029 through 2033, free to more than 2 billion viewers worldwide, TechCrunch reported. ABC, which has aired the show since 1961 with a brief gap in the early 1970s, keeps it until 2028. Learn more about that network’s owner in our guide on who owns ABC.

What does this mean for creators and advertisers? For me, it means stability. YouTube has had one owner for 20 years, and that owner keeps investing in TV, live events, and subscriptions. Creators and advertisers build on a platform that is not up for sale. That reach, from TV screens to the Oscars, is one of Google’s strongest assets.

Government pressure has not changed the owner. US courts declined to force Google to sell Chrome or Android in September 2025, and declined to force a sale of its AdX ad exchange in September 2026. Google still owns all of YouTube. Our Google SWOT analysis covers these legal risks in more detail.

Bottom Line

Google owns YouTube, Alphabet owns Google, and Larry Page and Sergey Brin control the votes at Alphabet. Neal Mohan runs YouTube as CEO, but he works inside Google, not above it. For me, the 2006 deal is one of the best purchases in business history: a $1.65 billion bet on a startup less than two years old became a platform with more than $60 billion in yearly revenue. To see who YouTube and Google compete with, read our list of Google competitors.

Frequently Asked Questions