Jawed Karim facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jawed Karim
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Karim in August 2008
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| Born | October 28, 1979 |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign (BS) Stanford University (MS) |
| Occupation | Software engineer |
| Known for |
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| YouTube information | |
| Years active |
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| Genre | Educational |
| Subscribers | 5.08 million |
| Total views | 341 million |
| Subscriber and view counts updated as of November 29, 2024. | |
Jawed Karim (born October 28, 1979) is an American computer expert and business owner. He is famous for being one of the people who started YouTube. He was also the very first person to upload a video to the site.
The first video ever uploaded to YouTube was called "Me at the zoo". Jawed uploaded it on April 23, 2005. This video has been watched over 345 million times! Before YouTube, Jawed worked at a company called PayPal. There, he met the other YouTube co-founders, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley. He helped design important parts of PayPal's system, like one that stopped fraud.
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Early Life and Education
Jawed Karim was born on October 28, 1979, in Merseburg, which was then part of East Germany. His father was from Bangladesh and worked as a researcher. His mother was a German scientist.
In the early 1980s, his family moved to Neuss, in West Germany. They moved because of unfriendly feelings towards people from other countries. Later, in 1992, Jawed and his family moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota, in the United States.
Jawed finished high school in Saint Paul in 1997. He then went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He left college early to work at PayPal, which was a new and exciting company at the time. Even though he left, he later finished his degree in computer science. He also earned a master's degree in computer science from Stanford University. Besides English, Jawed can speak German and Bengali.
Jawed Karim's Career
While in college, Jawed worked as an intern at a company called Silicon Graphics. He helped with projects that involved managing large amounts of 3D data.
In 2002, while working at PayPal, he met Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. Three years later, in 2005, these three friends started the video-sharing website we know as YouTube.
Jawed created the first account on YouTube, named "jawed", on April 23, 2005. On the same day, he uploaded the very first video to the website, "Me at the zoo".
After helping to create YouTube and develop its first ideas, Jawed decided to go back to Stanford University for his master's degree. He acted as an adviser to YouTube while he studied. When YouTube officially launched in February 2005, Jawed agreed not to be a full-time employee. He wanted to focus on his studies. Because of this, he received a smaller share of the company compared to Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.
Many people didn't know Jawed was one of the founders until YouTube was bought by Google in 2006. Even with a smaller share, the sale was still a huge success for him. He received many shares of Google stock, which were worth about $64 million at the time.
In October 2006, Jawed gave a talk at the University of Illinois. He spoke about how YouTube grew from an idea into a huge company. He returned to the University of Illinois in May 2008. He was the youngest person ever to give the commencement speech at the school's graduation ceremony.
Investments and New Ventures
In March 2008, Jawed Karim started a special fund called Youniversity Ventures. This fund, now known as YVentures, helps new companies get started. He worked with partners Keith Rabois and Kevin Hartz.
Jawed was one of the very first people to invest in Airbnb. He put money into the company when it was just starting in April 2009. YVentures has also invested in other well-known companies like Palantir, Reddit, and Eventbrite.
Jawed Karim's Thoughts on YouTube Changes
Sometimes, Jawed has updated the description of his "Me at the zoo" video. He uses it to share his opinions about changes YouTube makes.
For example, on November 6, 2013, YouTube made a change. They required people to use a Google+ account to comment on videos. Many YouTube users did not like this change. An online petition asking YouTube to change it back got over 240,000 signatures.
Google later said sorry for making Google+ users use their real names. This was one reason why the Google+ link with YouTube was unpopular. Google then removed the Google+ requirement from all its products, starting with YouTube. Google announced in October 2018 that it would close Google+ for good. It wasn't used much by people or developers, and it had a security problem. Google+ officially closed for personal accounts on April 2, 2019.
In November 2021, Jawed updated the "Me at the zoo" video description again. He wrote, "When every YouTuber agrees that removing dislikes is a stupid idea, it probably is. Try again, YouTube🤦♂️." A few days later, he added an even more detailed message. He explained why he thought YouTube's decision to hide the dislike count was a bad idea.
See also
In Spanish: Jawed Karim para niños
- PayPal Mafia
- History of YouTube
