Former YouTube executive Susan Wojcicki is dead
Multiple times, Susan Wojcicki played a pivotal role in Google's history. She was involved in building the ad system and advocated for Google's acquisition of YouTube. Google CEO Pichai now pays tribute to the late manager with an anecdote about his own job interview.
Longtime YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who played a key role in Google's history on multiple occasions, has passed away at the age of 56. She had been battling lung cancer for two years, as Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced in an email to employees. Wojcicki stepped down from her role at YouTube last year to focus on her health.
In 1998, Wojcicki, then an Intel manager, rented her garage to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. She was one of the first employees of the company and played a crucial role in building the ad system that generates Google's revenue. She spearheaded the acquisition of DoubleClick, which solidified Google's dominant position in the U.S. online ad market.
A few years after Google's founding, Wojcicki oversaw the company's own video service, and in 2006, she recommended the $1.65 billion acquisition of startup YouTube. Under Google's leadership, YouTube grew to become the world's largest video platform. Wojcicki then took the helm of YouTube in 2014.
In his email, Pichai also recalled how Wojcicki lightened the mood during his job interview two decades ago by treating him to an ice cream and giving him a tour of the Google campus.
The economic success of Google can be largely attributed to Susan Wojcicki's contributions, as she was instrumental in building the ad system that significantly contributes to the company's revenue. Despite her resignation last year due to health reasons, Wojcicki's influence on Google's growth through major acquisitions like DoubleClick and YouTube remains evident in the current state of the digital economy.
