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BitTorrent (protocol)

Inception: July 2001

NASDAQ: Not Publicly Traded

Reasons for success:

  • Difficult to track pirated content
  • Relatively anonymous sharing
  • Fast
Peer-to-peer file sharing networks were all the rage until the music industry started suing people over pirated music. Enter Bram Cohen and his scheme to connect users without a central hub and distribute files in pieces, to eliminate the ability to track, identify or prosecute users that share pirated music. There are over 100 million active monthly users.

Source: www.bittorrent.com