5 Most Valuable Websites on the Internet
Websites are essentially real estate in this virtual age, with some domains being worth thousands of dollars just for having the right name. Then, there are those that are worth millions and even billions. There are only a handful of domains that find themselves in the billion-dollar and up category, with these five being the most valuable on the internet.
5. Bilibili
Video sharing is one of the best aspects of the internet, and has changed the way that people consume media. In China, Bilibili is the king of video sharing, with the service also offering mobile games in six different languages. It was founded in 2009 by Xu Yi, who took on the role of director and president while Chen Rui became the CEO.
Bilibili became the fifth website to be valued at over $2 billion, which also made it the second Chinese website to reach that total. There has been steady growth throughout Bilibili’s history, too, with its ability to appeal to the younger generation being a huge reason for its growth and value. Unlike another certain video-sharing website that we’ll get to later, there is no parent company for Bilibili.
4. Baidu
Baidu was founded on New Year’s Day in 2000 and became China’s go-to search engine as the country’s answer to Yahoo and Google. Robin Li and Eric Xu founded the company and hold a share of more than three-quarters of all of the searches in China and employ over 45,000 people. Along the way, Baidu has acquired several websites to grow the empire.
Baidu is the most valuable website in China with a valuation of over $2.2 billion, and it’s easy to see why as there are so many services that Baidu offers. The company has billions in assets and continues to grow as the years go on, putting a stranglehold on the top of the Chinese website list.
3. Facebook
While social media started in earnest with MySpace, it was Facebook that truly helped it to take off. At first, the Mark Zuckerberg-founded website was exclusive to those with a collegiate email address but soon branched out to being fully public on a global scale and eventually publicly traded. Facebook made Zuckerberg a billionaire, which makes sense with around 3 billion active users per month.
Due to the global outreach and massive revenue that comes in from advertising, Facebook was valued to be $2.6 billion. Sure, there have been plenty of controversies regarding Facebook over the years, but there’s no doubt that the website has been extremely influential during its lifetime and has changed the way we use the internet.
2. YouTube
While Bilibili is the top video-sharing website in China, nobody comes close to the type of success as YouTube. The website was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim in 2005, launching on Valentine’s Day. Since the first video was uploaded by one of the founder’s day at the zoo, YouTube has exploded into basically being a utility for households around the world.
YouTube makes an insane amount of money from advertising, which has perturbed some people, but no alternative without advertising has proven to be a threat. Because of this, YouTube is valued to be over $3 billion and in 2006 was purchased by Google’s parent company Alphabet, Inc., and became its biggest source of income.
1. Google
Speaking of Google, the search engine that also serves as a verb is the most valuable website on the planet. The simplicity of Google helped to make it the top dog, and the search results algorithm makes it the top of its class. Though there have been many competitors, Google still reigns supreme for much of the same reason as YouTube, with people not really wanting to explore other options.
Because it’s the homepage for countless people, Google is the most valuable website in the world with a valuation of $4.8 billion. Google is unlikely to ever lose its place at the top, either, as there’s a massive gap and has been far and away number one for a very long time.