Jawed Karim is not a name most people hear every day. But almost everyone has seen something he helped create. He is one of the three people who started YouTube. He was also the first person to upload a video to the site.
That short clip, called Me at the Zoo, shows Jawed standing in front of elephants at the San Diego Zoo. It may look simple, but it helped launch one of the biggest platforms in the world.
Now, almost twenty years later, YouTube has changed how people share videos, build careers, and even earn money. Jawed Karim stayed out of the spotlight, but his work made him very wealthy.
This article explains how much he is worth in 2025 and how that one video helped shape his fortune.
| Full Name | Jawed Karim |
| Date of Birth | October 28, 1979 |
| Birthplace | Merseburg, East Germany |
| Nationality | American, German |
| Ethnicity | Bangladeshi and German |
| Education | BS in Computer Science, University of Illinois |
| Graduate School | MS in Computer Science, Stanford University |
| High School | Central High School, Saint Paul, Minnesota |
| First Job | PayPal (Early employee) |
| Co-Founders | Chad Hurley, Steve Chen |
| Company Founded | YouTube |
| Date YouTube Launched | February 14, 2005 |
| First YouTube Video Title | Me at the Zoo |
| First Video Upload Date | April 23, 2005 |
| Video Length | 19 seconds |
| Current YouTube Views | Over 330 million |
| Google Acquisition Date | October 2006 |
| Shares Received | 137,443 Google shares |
| Value of Shares in 2006 | $64 million |
| Estimated Value in 2025 | Over $390 million |
| Net Worth (2025 estimate) | $300 million to $350 million |
| Major Investments | Airbnb, Reddit, Eventbrite, Palantir |
| Venture Capital Fund | Youniversity Ventures (Y Ventures) |
| Known For | Co-founding YouTube, first video on the site |
| Public Personality | Private, rarely in media |
Early Life and Background
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Jawed Karim was born on October 28, 1979, in Merseburg, East Germany. His mother was a German scientist.
His father, originally from Bangladesh, worked as a researcher. The family left East Germany due to growing hostility and later settled in Neuss, West Germany. But even there, Jawed faced cultural challenges.
In 1992, they moved again—this time to the United States. They made their home in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Education and First Steps in Tech
He attended Central High School in Saint Paul and graduated in 1997. After that, he enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to study computer science. During college, he took an internship at Silicon Graphics and worked on 3D voxel data—something far ahead of what most students touched.
Before completing his degree, he left school to join PayPal. It was not a drop-out story. He still earned his degree in 2004 while working. After YouTube launched, he returned to school and earned a master’s degree in computer science at Stanford University.
Joining PayPal and Meeting Future Co-Founders
PayPal became a turning point. Jawed joined as one of the early engineers. That is where he met Steve Chen and Chad Hurley. The company moved fast, encouraged ideas, and built a strong culture around experimentation. That energy pulled Jawed in.
In 2002, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion. Jawed made several million dollars from the sale.
How the YouTube Idea Was Born
PayPal may have been a job, but for Jawed Karim, it was also a launchpad. After leaving the company in early 2005, he began meeting with Steve Chen and Chad Hurley to explore new startup ideas. Their meetings often took place at Max’s Opera Cafe, a quiet spot in San Mateo, California.
The core idea came from frustration. Jawed could not find videos of two major events online: the Indian Ocean tsunami and Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl incident. Videos existed—but there was no easy place to find or share them. That gap sparked a simple but powerful thought: build a site where anyone could upload video clips.
Hurley and Chen cited inspiration from “Hot or Not,” a dating site that allowed users to rate profile pictures. At one point, the team even imagined YouTube as a video dating platform. That idea failed to catch on, but the basic video-sharing concept remained. That shift changed everything.
So, he was one of the people who made it possible for influencers like David Dobrik to gain popularity.
The First YouTube Video That Started It All
On April 23, 2005, the world changed in 19 seconds.
Jawed Karim stood in front of the elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo. His friend Yakov Lapitsky recorded a short video with no edits, no music, no effects. Jawed spoke directly to the camera and said, “The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long trunks.” He ended with, “And that’s pretty much all there is to say.”
That short clip became the first video ever uploaded to YouTube.
It was posted to the channel “Jawed” at 8:27 PM. The file name was simple. The message even simpler. Today, the video has crossed over 330 million views. But more than views, it holds value as the moment that defined the start of a new digital age.
The entire YouTube platform now holds billions of videos—but it all began with that one ordinary zoo visit.
Why Jawed Took a Smaller Role in the Company
When YouTube launched in February 2005, Jawed made a surprising move. He stepped away from day-to-day operations and chose to return to school. He enrolled at Stanford University to complete a master’s degree in computer science. That decision meant he did not take the same equity share as Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.
He became an informal adviser instead of a full-time executive. His lower stake raised eyebrows, but it also showed his personality. Jawed preferred building tools over being in boardrooms.
His co-founders took YouTube into the spotlight and scaled the platform fast. But Jawed’s code, his concept, and his first video were already built into the foundation. He did not need a title to leave a mark.
YouTube Sold to Google: What He Gained
In October 2006, Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock. By then, Jawed Karim had already stepped away from the company to continue his education. He was no longer in the daily operations. He was not in meetings. He was not at the negotiation table.
But his code was in the system. His name was in the founding documents. His video was still the first clip ever uploaded.
Karim walked away with 137,443 shares of Google. On the day the deal closed, that stake was worth $64 million. He had the smallest slice among the three co-founders, but he also had the least public role. It fit him.
Fast forward to 2025—those same shares, if untouched, are now worth over $390 million.
Estimated Net Worth in 2025
Reports vary, but nearly all point to the same range. In 2025, his net worth sits somewhere between $300 million and $350 million.
- $64 million came from his original Google shares in 2006
- That share value has multiplied due to long-term stock growth
- Additional wealth came through early startup investments
- Airbnb, Reddit, and Palantir alone pushed his portfolio into nine figures
Final Thoughts
Jawed Karim never needed attention to prove his value. He helped build YouTube, posted its first video, and walked away before the world even realized what it would become.
He made smart decisions early and stayed focused. He chose to keep a lower profile, but his work and his investments tell the full story. YouTube changed how people share videos, and Karim helped make that possible.
Today, his name is not always in the headlines, but the impact is there.
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