Youku was founded in November 2005, Youku launched in beta in June 2006 and opened to the public in December 2006. A year later in December 2007, Youku was receiving more than 100 million video views per day. A pioneer in the area of user-generated content, Youku has since expanded and diversified its library to include a combination of licensed professional content, user-generated content and self-produced web video content for free, subscription-based, and on-demand viewing across devices. On December 8, 2010, Youku became the first Chinese internet video company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

 

Youku Tudou was created on August 20, 2012, when shareholders of Youku Inc. and Tudou Inc. approved a merger agreement announced by the two companies on March 11, 2012, ushering in a new era of consolidation in the Chinese online video space. The company’s stock is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol YOKU.