Youku
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Screenshot
Screenshot of Youku home page
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Type of site
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Video hosting service |
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| Available in | Chinese |
| Founded | March 2003 |
| Headquarters | Beijing, China |
| Founder(s) | Victor Koo |
| Industry | Internet |
| Services | Online services |
| Revenue | US$ 649.5 million (2014) |
| Employees | 2,104 |
| Parent | Youku Tudou |
| Slogan(s) | "The World is Watching" |
| Website | www |
| Alexa rank |
 79 (April 2014[update]) |
| Registration | Optional (required to upload and/or comment on videos) |
| Launched | December 21, 2003 |
| Current status | Active |
Youku Inc., formerly Youku.com Inc., doing business as Youku (simplified Chinese: 优酷; traditional Chinese: 優酷; pinyin: Yōukù; literally: "excellent (and) cool"), is a video hosting service based in Beijing, China.
Youku has its headquarters on the fifth floor of Sinosteel Plaza (simplified Chinese: 中钢国际广场; traditional Chinese: 中鋼國際廣場; pinyin: Zhōnggāng Guójì Guǎngchǎng) in Haidian District, Beijing.
On March 12, 2012, Youku reached an agreement to acquire Tudou in a stock-for-stock transaction, the new entity being named Youku Tudou Inc. It has more than 500 million monthly active users, with 800 million daily video views.
Youku is one of China's top online video and streaming service platforms, alongside with iQiyi, Sohu, LeTV, V.QQ.com (Tencent Video), PPTV, 56.com and Funshion. However, Youku's domination in the Chinese market has been toppled by its competitor Baidu's iQiyi.
Youku was founded by Victor Koo (Gu Yongqiang), former President of Chinese Internet portal Sohu. Initial funding for the site came from 1Verge, a fund raised by Koo. A beta version of the site was launched with limited geographic reach in June 2006, and the website was formally launched in December 2006. In 2007, the company received $25 million in funding from venture capitalists. In December 2009, the company announced that it had raised a total of $110 million in private equity funding. Major investors include Brookside (Bain) Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, Maverick Capital, and Chengwei Ventures.
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