What is YouTube’s stock price, and are they publicly traded? Unfortunately, investors cannot purchase shares of YouTube directly because Google owns it. However, traders can invest in Google directly (NASDAQ: GOOGL).
YouTube stock isn’t a thing, but if it were, it would be big. Big. It’s the most popular video streaming platform on the planet since its launch in 2005. And the price of Google’s stock reflects just that! That’s right. Google owns YouTube, so if you want to get in on the success, look no further than the world’s most successful search engine.
Can you believe it’s been 15 years since its launch already?! As a result, you may be wondering, Is there a YouTube stock price? Read on; we’ll give you the scoop on how to get in on the momentum behind this streaming platform.
Did you know it’s the second most visited website in the world, with visitors watching around 1 billion, yes billion, hours of video a day? That is insane.
Is YouTube Publicly Traded?
Can you invest in YouTube? Indirectly, you can. While there’s no actual YouTube stock, you can invest in $GOOGL, which controls both YouTube and Google. As a result, you’re still making money off both private companies.
Google Stock isn’t cheap. However, there is an alternative method that requires less capital: options. Did you know that one option contract allows you to control 100 shares of Google?
And what’s great about options is that you don’t have to pay for the 100 shares. I won’t get into the nitty-gritty details, but the cost of an options contract is a fraction of the cost of purchasing shares outright.
Even though we can’t buy YouTube stock directly, we can profit in another way: You can be a YouTuber.
Up until last year, I had no idea people could make money off videos on YouTube. It was my 12-year-old cousin who informed me that his friend sits in the basement, plays video games, and people pay to watch him. I thought to myself, you’ve got to be kidding me. I get mad when my boyfriend plays video games; who in their right mind would pay to watch someone play?
What is this world coming to? I breathed a collective sigh of exasperation for all woman-kind.
YouTube Company Overview
Because YouTube is so popular, one of the most frequently asked questions out there is: Is there a YouTube stock? The short answer is no. YouTube is a subsidiary of the same company that owns Google. You could trade or invest in YouTube by purchasing stock in Alphabet $GOOGL.
All of this goes without saying: YouTube is THE media platform of the world. Oh, and it’s a multi-billion-dollar company with annual revenues of $15.1 billion in 2019.
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If this does not scream opportunity, I don’t know what does. For these reasons alone, I’d want to buy YouTube stock and thus stock in Google. But the billion-dollar question remains: Should you buy shares of YouTube stock, and if so, how much will it cost?
YouTube Stock History
Started by Jawed Karim, Steve Chen, and Chad Hurley, YouTube has become one of the most visited websites in the history of the internet.
In 2004, as employees of PayPal, the three quickly realized that there wasn’t one spot online where people could share videos. Surprisingly, inspiration hit thanks to the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident and the tsunami in December. Thanks to Sequoia Capital’s investment of $11.5 million in 2005, YouTube was launched and registered in the headquarters above a pizzeria in California.
Fast-forward to April, and the first-ever video, “Me at the Zoo,” was uploaded. Eight months later, a Nike ($NKE) commercial became the first video to receive one million views.
In an attempt to keep up with the times, the YouTube website underwent a massive overhaul towards the end of 2011. And only one year later, Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ was the first video to hit one billion views!!!
We all use YouTube, including the Bullish Bears. Check out our YouTube channel for educational content centered around the stock market.
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Multi-Billion Dollar Company
It may not have been the grandest start, but who would have ever thought a 20-second clip at the Zoo would mark the beginning of this internet behemoth?
Since the Zoo days, YouTube has grown in many ways. In terms of the site itself, they’ve recently added live streaming. A feature that we use daily. Moreover, five billion videos are watched daily, over 1.3 billion people use the site, and 300 hours of video are uploaded every minute.
Put another way, you’d need around 82 years to watch all the new content uploaded to YouTube in just a single day. Wow.
Who Owns YouTube?
Google! In 2006, Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock. At that time, it was Google’s second-largest acquisition.
Google thought they were on to something good, and judging by the immediate success of YouTube, they were right. This has kick-started YouTube’s rise to fame for many, and I agree.
Google acquired YouTube as a way to combine its search and organization competencies with YouTube’s expansive video library. This was a brilliant move on Google’s part. The investment has turned out to be one of the best by the internet search engine giant.
YouTube Revenue and Financial Overview
| Year | Estimated Revenue ($bn) | 2025 (est.) | $45.0 |
|---|---|
| 2024 | $36.1 |
| 2023 | $31.5 |
| 2022 | $29.2 |
| 2021 | $28.8 |
How to Get a Piece of YouTube
At this point, I’ll have you logging into your brokerage account and clamoring to buy YouTube stock. But you can’t, at least not directly. That’s because Alphabet YouTube is owned by Alphabet, better known as Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL).
In light of this, if you want to buy shares of YouTube, then you have to buy Google stock. Google currently trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange in the United States. Besides, with revenues of over $300 billion, Google is one of the biggest companies on the exchange. You’ll also hear them mentioned as part of the FAANG group on CNBC or social media. (FAANG stands for Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google!
Of course, if Google decided to sell YouTube (not so sure why they would ever do that!), then you would still hold Google stock and not YouTube stock.
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YouTube Creators
But apparently, people do pay to watch. Take, for example, PewDiePie, a Swedish gamer. With over 90 million followers, he earned $15.5 million playing video games online in 2018.
Along the same token, making an estimated $11.2 million is Daniel Middleton, known as The DiamondMinecart (TDM), who created a kid-friendly Minecraft YouTube channel. The channel is so family-friendly that sometimes Daniel’s wife, Jemma, plays along in videos.
Don’t despair if you’re not a video game guru; YouTube doesn’t discriminate. A case in point is Jeffree Star, a drag queen and makeup mogul who earned $18 million via makeup videos and tutorials in 2018.
Using his YouTube success as a springboard, he launched Jeffree Star Cosmetics. According to Forbes, he brings in an estimated $100 million in revenue annually.
Moving on to what is perhaps the most mind-boggling of them all, Ryan Kaji. In 2018, he was the highest-paid YouTube star 2018, hauling in $22 million with his videos.
Interestingly, Ryan is only seven years old and reviews toys on his channel, which is called Ryan ToysReview. He has more than 21 million subscribers with more than 31 billion views. What were you doing at seven years old?
These YouTube millionaires above represent the exception, not the rule. But there’s no reason you can’t try!
Final Thoughts on YouTube Stock
YouTube TV has been wildly successful as of late. They claimed to have over 8 million subscribers. Good for a streaming TV service that launched in February 2017. As of today, you can get all your favorite networks and local stations. This is a big competitor to Dish’s “Sling TV” and threatens to take more of their subscribers.
You can see where YouTube TV is headed by looking at the strong numbers from YouTube Music and YouTube Premium (ad-free), which are over 100 million subs.
YouTube stock may not be readily available to invest in, but remember the days when most jobs entailed sitting in a cubicle from 9-5, working for “the man?” I’m delighted to say those days are long gone, and there are endless ways to earn money online. Even though there’s no YouTube stock, you can invest in its parent company, Google (GOOGL).
Frequently Asked Questions
Google acquired YouTube on October 9, 2006, for $1.64 billion. Investors can purchase their stock under the symbol $GOOGL.
Google owns YouTube. Investors can purchase their stock under the symbol GOOGL on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Google is a publicly traded company that trades on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol $GOOGL.
