YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down after nine years in the role.
In a blog post, she said she had decided to “start a new chapter that will focus on my family, health and personal projects that I am passionate about.”
YouTube’s chief product officer, Neil Mohan, will take over as head of the Google-owned video platform.
“The timing is right for me, and I feel able to do this because we have an incredible leadership team at YouTube,” said Ms. Wojcicki.
Ms Wojcicki added that she would continue to work on YouTube in the “short term” to “support Neil and help with the transition”.
In his blog, he praised Mr. Mohan’s work in launching YouTube TV as well as leading YouTube Music, Premium and Shorts.
At the invitation of Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google’s parent firm Alphabet, Ms. Wojcicki confirmed that she would “take an advisory role at Google and Alphabet.”
“This will allow me to draw on my varied experiences over the years to offer advice and guidance across Google and Alphabet’s portfolio of companies,” he said.
Legacy
Ms. Wojcicki joined Google when the founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, set up shop in the garage of their home in Silicon Valley in 1998, becoming the company’s first marketing manager a year later.
A Google employee for nearly 25 years, she was among the tech giant’s first 20 hires — number 16.
During Ms. Wojcicki’s tenure at YouTube, she faced public criticism over the platform’s handling of content moderation, the spread of misinformation, and ongoing concerns about children’s privacy.
Fact-checking organizations around the world say YouTube is not doing enough to prevent the spread of misinformation on the platform.
When she joined the online video platform in 2014, it just crossed the one billion user milestone. It currently hosts 2.5 billion users worldwide – with many YouTube creators, also known as YouTubers, making lucrative careers out of their individual channels.
Jimmy Donaldson, better known as Mr. Best, was YouTube’s highest-grossing content creator last year.
The young American is expected to gross £45m ($54m) in 2022, more than any YouTube creator in the platform’s history – according to recent estimates from Forbes magazine.
thank you @SusanWojcicki for all your amazing work over the years to make YouTube home for so many creators ♥️ pic.twitter.com/T2t2NUqRsW
— YouTube Creators (@YouTubeCreators) February 16, 2023
Ms. Wojcicki is the latest in a series of high-profile tech executives to leave long-term roles.
His departure follows Jeff Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, who stepped down in 2022, and Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal, who stepped down last year. Sal had left the company as part of a shakeup instigated by new boss Elon Musk.
