Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, is stepping down after nine years leading Google’s video division, signalling the end of an era for one of the Internet’s foundational businesses.
In a blog post, Wojcicki stated that she intended to “start a new chapter” focusing on her family, health, and personal initiatives.
She will also serve as an advisor to Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc.
She is delegating authority to senior lieutenant Neal Mohan, a longtime Google executive who oversees YouTube’s product and rules.
“The time is right for me, and I feel able to do this because we have an incredible leadership team in place at YouTube,” Wojcicki wrote.
YouTube staged a live event promoting its Shorts service in September. Wojcicki requested a video call, claiming a health concern.
The corporation declined to elaborate on the shift.
Wojcicki is one of Google’s longest-serving workers and one of Silicon Valley’s most visible female leaders.
She joined as an early marketing manager after donating her garage to the company’s founders and progressed through the ranks of Google’s advertising division until joining YouTube in 2014.
She was engaged in two of Google’s landmark acquisitions: the 2006 purchase of YouTube and the following year’s agreement for advertising-technology company DoubleClick.
Wojcicki spent years directing Google’s display advertisements unit, turning it into a secondary income source behind search and growing Google into areas with higher revenues but more regulatory scrutiny, such as targeted ads.
Wojcicki was best known within Google as one of the few higher-ups with a personal connection to the mercurial founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, which gave her tremendous clout within the developing technological behemoth.
“She was essentially a short-circuit to the founders,” said Keval Desai, founder of Shakti Capital and a former Google colleague. “She’s a person who had a bigger impact than any of her titles would suggest.”
Desai recalled the advice he received after joining Google, in 2003, from a manager: “Susan gets what Susan wants.”
After years of underwhelming performance, Google’s then-CEO, Larry Page, appointed Wojcicki to manage YouTube in early 2014.
For over a decade, YouTube grew rapidly yet failed to become profitable. Wojcicki refocused YouTube on competing in the TV ad business, bolstering its creators and partnerships with media firms.
While Wojcicki was a media outsider, Hollywood insiders took note of her efforts to make YouTube a more ready partner—and adversary.
Under Wojcicki’s leadership, YouTube launched an original show programme featuring YouTube creators to compete with Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video.
That programme was a failure. Yet, Wojcicki fared better in terms of establishing stronger relationships with YouTube’s vast, unpredictable sea of artists.
“She brought them into the conversation,” said Dan Weinstein, co-CEO of Underscore Talent, who has worked with YouTube for years.
He described Wojcicki as taking YouTube from “a pure engineering technical platform into what resembles a media company, whether they use that term or not.”
Nonetheless, Wojcicki supervised YouTube’s most turbulent years.
Under Donald Trump’s administration, the platform faced challenges related to extremism, misinformation, kid safety, and misbehaving celebrities.
Some major advertisers deserted the site in 2017. Numerous opponents, including former employees, criticised Wojcicki for moving too slowly to address these concerns.
While YouTube has spared Facebook’s political bombardment, the video platform is grappling with mounting regulatory difficulties about copyright and liability – YouTube’s management of Jihadi content is at the centre of a Supreme Court case that might rewrite how the Internet operates.
Wojcicki has gradually rebuilt confidence with marketers since 2017. In five years, YouTube’s ad business has more than quadrupled in size, hitting $29.2 billion in 2022.
“She’s been a pillar of stability during that time,” Weinstein said.
But, in recent quarters, YouTube’s ad revenue has fallen short of Wall Street estimates.
Increased privacy restrictions, such as Apple Inc.’s ban on targeted advertisements, have hampered income, and YouTube has spent more in Shorts, a feature to compete with TikTok, which has only recently begun to serve commercials.
Nonetheless, Wojcicki’s foray into commercial services, such as its streaming TV service and Spotify competitor, has met with limited success.
Mohan has been Wojcicki’s senior deputy for some years, having transferred from Google’s advertising unit to YouTube in 2015. He was widely regarded as her natural heir.
