YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is Stepping Down After 9 Years

Susan Wojcicki, a Google veteran who has been the CEO of YouTube for nine years announced today that she was stepping down. The exec said that she “decided to step back from my role as the head of YouTube and start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about.”

In a note sent to employees and published on the YouTube blog, Wojcicki said that she will be replaced by Neal Mohan, the current Chief Product Officer at YouTube. “He has a wonderful sense for our product, our business, our creator and user communities, and our employees. Neal will be a terrific leader for YouTube,” Wojcicki said today.

Following a transition period, Wojcicki won’t entirely leave the company: She said today that she will move on to an advisory role across Google and Alphabet. “This will allow me to call on my different experiences over the years to offer counsel and guidance across Google and the portfolio of Alphabet companies,” the exec said.

As the CEO of YouTube, Wojcicki oversaw the launch of several new YouTube products including YouTube TV, YouTube Music, and YouTube Premium. YouTube Shorts, the new TikTok-inspired video format quickly evolved from a me-too product to a juggernaut with 1.5 billion users every month as of June 2022.

Back in 1998, Wojcicki rented her garage in the Silicon Valley to the young Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who had just founded Google. Wojcicki became Google’s first marketing manager a year later. She concluded her letter by thanking the Google co-founders for “the adventure of a lifetime.”