Former YouTube CEO and Google Exec Susan Wojcicki Passed Away
Former YouTube CEO and Google Exec — one of the most influential women in our generation — died on Aug. 9 after a two-year battle with cancer. She was 56.
Her husband, Dennis Troper, confirmed the sad news on Facebook.
“It is with profound sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki passing. My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after 2 years of living with non small cell lung cancer,” Troper wrote.
CEO of Google and Alphabet, Sundar Pichai, posted a tribute to a former colleague through X.
Unbelievably saddened by the loss of my dear friend @SusanWojcicki after two years of living with cancer. She is as core to the history of Google as anyone, and it’s hard to imagine the world without her. She was an incredible person, leader and friend who had a tremendous…
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) August 10, 2024
Susan Wojcicki’s Career
In 2005, Wojcicki led the launch of Google Video. She managed the internet company’s $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube in 2006. Back then, this platform was a rival video-upload website.
She joined Google in 1999 as the 16th employee, becoming the search engine’s first marketing exec. At that time, the co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin initially ran the company out of her garage in Menlo Park, California.
In February 2014, Wojcicki became YouTube’s CEO. In this year, the video platform became one of the avenues for the company’s advertising business. During her leadership, Google launched YouTube TV, gaining over 8 million customers as of early 2024. YouTubeTV has become the US’ biggest streaming pay-TV service, outperforming the traditional cable and satellite operators.
In 2023, she stepped down as CEO of YouTube while remaining an adviser to the company. In a memo released to staff, Wojcicki said she was exiting as head of YouTube to “start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about.”