Quick Answer: Bitly is a URL shortening service and a link management platform. The company Bitly, Inc. was established in 2008. It is privately held and based in New York City. Bitly shortens 600 million links per month, for use in social networking, SMS, and email. Bitly makes money by charging for access to aggregate data created as a result of many people using the shortened URLs. In 2017, Spectrum Equity acquired a majority stake in Bitly for $63 million. From November 2023, guest users can no longer create short links; an account is required.