Susan Wojcicki, who joined Alphabet nearly 25 years ago, is stepping down as CEO of YouTube.
Susan has worked for the company almost since its inception. Larry Page and Sergey Brin opened an office in her parents’ garage shortly after they incorporated Google in 1998. The following year, he took on the role of the company’s marketing manager.
Among other things, the woman played an important role in the emergence of the first Google doodles, was a co-author of Google Image Search and the first product manager for AdSense (one of Google’s key advertising programs). In 2006, Wojcicki pushed Google to buy YouTube, which had debuted a year earlier — eight years later, she became its head and became one of the few women to lead a major technology company.
thank you @SusanWojcicki for all your amateur work over the years to Make YouTube home for many creators ♥️ pic.twitter.com/T2t2NUqRsW
— YouTube Creators (@YouTubeCreators) February 16, 2023
During Wojcicki’s tenure, YouTube became an increasingly important part of Google and Alphabet. Revenue from advertising on the platform alone accounted for more than 10% of the company’s total revenue last quarter. However, the tenure of the CEO was not too “smooth” – the platform has long struggled with moderation problems, including the spread of hate and misinformation.
For her part, Wojcicki decided to listen to YouTube creators and users and address their concerns directly.
In her farewell letter, Susan says that Neil Mohan, her de facto deputy, will take over as the new manager. He joined the company when Google bought advertising company DoubleClick in 2007. In 2015, he became YouTube’s director of products and helped launch YouTube TV, YouTube Music, Premium and Shorts. Mohan also headed the service’s trust and security team.
Interestingly, Wojcicki said that Neal will be the senior vice president and head of YouTube, not the CEO.
“With everything we’re doing in short videos, streaming and subscriptions, along with the prospects for artificial intelligence, YouTube’s most exciting opportunities lie ahead, and Neil is the man to lead us,” she wrote.
Susan Wojcicki added that she will not leave YouTube immediately, but will support Neil, work with some teams and hold meetings with creators. In fact, the woman will remain at Google and Alphabet as an advisor.
“This will allow me to use my diverse experience accumulated over the years to advise Google and the Alphabet portfolio of companies,” said Susan.
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Source: Engadget
