Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who was also one of the most influential early Google employees, has died at the age of 56 according to posts shared online by her husband Dennis Troper and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Friday night.
Wojicki led YouTube for nearly ten years and was one of the only women to hold the CEO role at a big tech company in Silicon Valley.
Wojcicki’s husband Dennis Troper wrote on Facebook early Friday night, “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.”
Pichai confirmed the death and cancer condition in a post on social media Friday, writing that he was “unbelievably saddened” by the loss.
In a note sent to employees, Pichai described Wojcicki as “one of the most active and vibrant people I have ever met. Her loss is devastating for all of us who know and love her, for the thousands of Googlers she led over the years, and for millions of people all over the world who looked up to her, benefited from her advocacy and leadership, and felt the impact of the incredible things she created at Google, YouTube, and beyond.
“Susan’s journey, from the garage she rented to Larry and Sergey … to leading teams across consumer products and building our Ads business … to becoming the CEO of YouTube, one of the world’s most significant platforms, is inspiring by any measure. But she didn’t stop there. As one of the earliest Googlers — and the first to take maternity leave — Susan used her position to build a better workplace for everyone. And in the years that followed, her advocacy around parental leave set a new standard for businesses everywhere. Susan was also deeply passionate about education. She realized early on that YouTube could be a learning platform for the world and championed ‘edutubers’ — especially those who extended the reach of STEM education to underserved communities.”
Wojcicki, 56, joined YouTube as CEO in 2014. She stepped down from her role in February 2023, saying she’d continue working with YouTube teams, coaching members and meeting with creators.
She helped to build Google from its earliest days into a tech titan, and is credited with shepherding some of its most successful products.
She let Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, work out of her Menlo Park, California, home upon founding Google. Page and Brin rented the garage space for $1,700 a month from her. Wojcicki was working in the marketing department at Intel at the time.
Upon joining Google in 1999 as the company’s 16th employee, Wojcicki oversaw the design and build of Google’s advertising and analytics products for 14 years. She played a crucial role in developing Google’s advertising business, including co-creating AdSense, one of the company’s most successful products.
In 2006, she advocated for Google’s then-$1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube.
“The founders trust Susan maybe more than anybody on the planet,” Patrick Keane, an early Google sales director, said in the 2022 book “Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube’s Chaotic Rise to World Domination.” “You could never get Susan rattled, no matter how challenging the moment was.”
“When people couldn’t get him to see reason, she always could,” said former Google director and early Silicon Valley workplace influencer Kim Scott in the book as “a Larry whisperer,” referring to Google co-founder Larry Page.
During Wojcicki’s tenure as YouTube CEO, she oversaw the company’s rapid expansion, helping turn it into the largest video platform in the world. YouTube now has more than 2.5 billion monthly active users and more than 500 hours of content are uploaded to the platform every minute, according to the company.
The announcement of her death led to an outpouring of condolences from a wide range of tech and venture capital leaders on Friday night.
“I had the good fortune of meeting Susan 17 years ago when she was the architect of the DoubleClick acquisition,” wrote current YouTube CEO Neal Mohan in a social media post Friday night. “Her legacy lives on in everything she touched at Google and YouTube.”
“She taught me the business and helped me navigate a growing, fairly chaotic organization at the beginning of my career in tech,” said former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg in a social media post. “As one of the most important women leaders in tech — the first to lead a major company— she was committed to expanding opportunities for women throughout Silicon Valley. I don’t believe my career would be what it is today without her unwavering support.”
“I am deeply saddened by the passing of my dear colleague and friend @SusanWojcicki,” wrote Google chief scientist Jeff Dean on social media Friday night. “She has had a profound influence on everyone at Google and impacted the lives of so many.”