Dailymotion is a French video-sharing technology platform owned by Vivendi. North American launch partners included Vice Media, Bloomberg, and Hearst Digital Media. Dailymotion is available worldwide in 183 languages and 43 localised versions featuring local home pages and local content.
In March 2005, Benjamin Bejbaum and Olivier Poitrey founded the website, pooling €6,000 (US$9,271) from six individuals to start it.[3] In September 2006, Dailymotion raised funds in collaboration with Atlas Ventures and Partech International. They raised €7 million, which was considered to be the most funds raised in 2006 from the French Web 2.0.[citation needed] In October 2009, the French government invested in Dailymotion through the Strategic Investment Fund. On 25 January 2011, Orange acquired a 49% stake in Dailymotion for €62 million, valuing the company at €120 million.
On 10 January 2013, Orange bought the remaining 51% for €61 million. On or about 2 May 2013, the French government blocked Yahoo's acquisition of a majority stake in Dailymotion.
On 25 February 2014, Orange revealed it was in discussions with Microsoft about a deal that could see Dailymotion extend into the US market. In an interview with a local television station in Barcelona Stéphane Richard, CEO of Orange, said there was "great hope" an agreement would be reached. Any deal would see Orange retain majority ownership of Dailymotion. Richard said his company was in talks with other potential partners as well with a view to expanding Dailymotion's international appeal, but said discussions with others were more in relation to content.
In 2015, Vivendi purchased an 80% stake in Dailymotion from Orange S.A. Vivendi increased its ownership to 90% that September.
In September 2020, Dailymotion partnered with Mi Video, the global video app developed by Xiaomi.[9] The partnership will help Mi Video to increase its engagement with its audience and continue its growth momentum. Access to Dailymotion's global and regional music, entertainment, sports and news catalogues will be provided to Mi Video users.
The comment section was removed completely approximately in 2018, and the view counter was removed in mid-2021. On June 1 to 2, 2022, the picture-in-picture view mode which allowed browsing the site while playing a video in the lower right corner of the screen was removed.