It is the end of an era for YouTube.
The company's long-time CEO, Susan Wojcicki, has recently announced she is stepping down from her position as YouTube's CEO and starting a new chapter of her life.
Wojcicki was YouTube's CEO for nine years, helping the platform develop and grow into the video-sharing platform it is today.
Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, arrives at the Élysée Palace for the inaugural dinner of the Paris Peach Forum as World Leaders and dignitaries arrive in Paris for the first day on November 11, 2021 in Paris, France.
Susan Wojcicki Resignation Details
Wojcicki mentioned in a letter sent to YouTube employees (now published as a YouTube blog post) that she decided to step back from her position as YouTube's CEO to start a new chapter focused on her family, health, and personal projects she is passionate about.
She explained that the timing of her resignation was right for her due to the "incredible leadership team" in place in the company. This team is led by Neal Mohan, who will be the SVP and new head of YouTube once the transition period is complete.
During this transition period, Wojcicki plans to support Neal by her continuing to work with some YouTube teams, coaching team members, and meeting with creators.
Mohan, according to Gizmodo, previously worked with Wojcicki on Google's display ad business before joining her at YouTube. As of press time, he has been YouTube's Chief Product Officer since 2015, and he played "pivotal roles" in the Aplphabet-owned company, with him working on the launch of YouTube TV, YouTube Music, Premium, and Shorts, per IGN.
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Neal also seems to have acquired Wojcicki's confidence, with her saying that he is the right person to lead the company in a time when YouTube's "most exciting" opportunities are ahead, with the promises of AI, Shorts, streaming, and subscriptions.
Although Wojcicki is leaving YouTube, she isn't leaving Alphabet, YouTube's parent company, as a whole. According to her letter, she agreed with Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai's offer to take on an advisory role across Google and Alphabet, allowing her to use her experience to "offer counsel and guidance across Google and Alphabet's portfolio of companies."
Wojcicki's Legacy In Google And YouTube
Wojcicki has been with Google since its inception. She rented out her garage in 1998 to founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, for them to place Google's servers in. Without her garage accommodating Google's servers during its first few years, it's hard to tell where the company would be now.
As YouTube's CEO, she made YouTube into a platform that thousands of creators can use as a workplace for them to earn money from their videos, sharing a slice of YouTube's ad revenue. She also held the company to create YouTube Shorts to compete in the short-form video against TikTok.
Hank Green, the founder of the Internat Creators Guild, a union for digital creators, mentioned that Wojcicki's time at YouTube is a story of "constant progress and good leadership of a very new thing no one had any idea how it should be led," per Fast Company.
He believes that her legacy, which is the YouTube we know today, is very different from what it was when she became CEO, "but is a pretty powerful, positive force" despite some pieces of it being "a negative force" in culture and society."
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