Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who was additionally one of the influential early Google staff, has died on the age of 56 in line with posts shared on-line by her husband Dennis Troper and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Friday night time.
Wojicki led YouTube for practically ten years and was one of many solely girls to carry the CEO position at a giant tech firm in Silicon Valley.
Wojcicki’s husband Dennis Troper wrote on Fb early Friday night time, “It’s with profound unhappiness that I share the information of Susan Wojcicki passing. My beloved spouse of 26 years and mom to our 5 kids left us right now after 2 years of dwelling with non-small cell lung most cancers.”
Pichai confirmed the demise and most cancers situation in a publish on social media Friday, writing that he was “unbelievably saddened” by the loss.
In a be aware despatched to staff, Pichai described Wojcicki as “one of the energetic and vibrant folks I’ve ever met. Her loss is devastating for all of us who know and love her, for the hundreds of Googlers she led through the years, and for hundreds of thousands of individuals everywhere in the world who regarded as much as her, benefited from her advocacy and management, and felt the impression of the unbelievable issues she created at Google, YouTube, and past.
“Susan’s journey, from the storage she rented to Larry and Sergey … to main groups throughout client merchandise and constructing our Advertisements enterprise … to changing into the CEO of YouTube, one of many world’s most vital platforms, is inspiring by any measure. However she did not cease there. As one of many earliest Googlers — and the primary to take maternity go away — Susan used her place to construct a greater office for everybody. And within the years that adopted, her advocacy round parental go away set a brand new normal for companies in all places. Susan was additionally deeply obsessed with training. She realized early on that YouTube could possibly be a studying platform for the world and championed ‘edutubers’ — particularly those that prolonged the attain of STEM training to underserved communities.”
Wojcicki, 56, joined YouTube as CEO in 2014. She stepped down from her position in February 2023, saying she’d proceed working with YouTube groups, teaching members and assembly with creators.
She helped to construct Google from its earliest days right into a tech titan, and is credited with shepherding a few of its most profitable merchandise.
She let Google founders Larry Web page and Sergey Brin, work out of her Menlo Park, California, house upon founding Google. Web page and Brin rented the storage house for $1,700 a month from her. Wojcicki was working within the advertising division at Intel on the time.
Upon becoming a member of Google in 1999 as the corporate’s sixteenth worker, Wojcicki oversaw the design and construct of Google’s promoting and analytics merchandise for 14 years. She performed an important position in growing Google’s promoting enterprise, together with co-creating AdSense, one of many firm’s most profitable merchandise.
In 2006, she advocated for Google’s then-$1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube.
“The founders belief Susan perhaps greater than anyone on the planet,” Patrick Keane, an early Google gross sales director, mentioned within the 2022 guide “Like, Remark, Subscribe: Inside YouTube’s Chaotic Rise to World Domination.” “You can by no means get Susan rattled, regardless of how difficult the second was.”
“When folks could not get him to see motive, she at all times might,” mentioned former Google director and early Silicon Valley office influencer Kim Scott within the guide as “a Larry whisperer,” referring to Google co-founder Larry Web page.
Throughout Wojcicki’s tenure as YouTube CEO, she oversaw the corporate’s fast growth, serving to flip it into the biggest video platform on this planet. YouTube now has greater than 2.5 billion month-to-month energetic customers and greater than 500 hours of content material are uploaded to the platform each minute, in line with the corporate.
The announcement of her demise led to an outpouring of condolences from a variety of tech and enterprise capital leaders on Friday night time.
“I had the great fortune of assembly Susan 17 years in the past when she was the architect of the DoubleClick acquisition,” wrote present YouTube CEO Neal Mohan in a social media publish Friday night time. “Her legacy lives on in every part she touched at Google and YouTube.”
“She taught me the enterprise and helped me navigate a rising, pretty chaotic group firstly of my profession in tech,” mentioned former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg in a social media publish. “As one of the essential girls leaders in tech — the primary to guide a significant firm— she was dedicated to increasing alternatives for ladies all through Silicon Valley. I do not imagine my profession could be what it is right now with out her unwavering assist.”
“I’m deeply saddened by the passing of my expensive colleague and pal @SusanWojcicki,” wrote Google chief scientist Jeff Dean on social media Friday night time. “She has had a profound affect on everybody at Google and impacted the lives of so many.”
