Former YouTube chief and Silicon Valley pioneer Susan Wojcicki, who served as the video sharing platform’s longest-serving CEO during some of its most formative years, died Friday at the age of 56, according to a statement from her husband, provoking an outpour of support and condolences from YouTube creators and technology executives.
Wojcicki became YouTube CEO in 2014
Photograph by Christian Peacock/The Forbes Collection
Key Takeaways
- Wojcicki died Friday after a two-year battle with non-small cell lung cancer, her husband, Dennis Troper, wrote in a Facebook post.
- Wojcicki is survived by Troper and four of her five children, as 19-year-old Marco Troper passed away in February.
- Wojcicki became YouTube’s CEO in 2014, about eight years after she oversaw Google’s $1.6 billion acquisition of the video sharing platform.
- She stepped away from YouTube in early 2023, saying in a statement she was starting “a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about.”
Major Reactions
Key Background
Wojcicki worked at Intel before becoming one of Google’s earliest employees. As employee No. 16, she rented out her Menlo Park, California, garage to Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998—the year the tech giant was founded. Wojcicki became Google’s first marketing manager and was a crucial figure behind the company’s integration into the advertising space.
She also worked on Google’s video hosting service Google Video in 2005 before overseeing the purchase of YouTube, which was the service’s rival platform at the time. Wojcicki became YouTube CEO in 2014 and led the company during its launch of YouTube TV streaming service and its $14 billion deal with the NFL for exclusive rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, which allows subscribers to watch out-of-market NFL games.
