YouTube is a popular free video sharing website which lets users upload, view, and share video clips. Videos can be rated; the average rating and the number of times a video has been watched are both published.

Founded in February 2005 by three former employees of PayPal, the San Bruno-based service utilizes Adobe Flash technology to display video. The wide variety of site content includes movie and TV clips and music videos, as well as amateur content such as videoblogging and short original videos. Currently staffed by 67 employees,^[1] the company was named TIME magazine's "Invention of the Year" for 2006.^[2] In October 2006, Google Inc. announced that it had reached a deal to acquire the company for US$1.65 billion in Google's stock. The deal closed on 13 November 2006.