YouTube’s former chief executive Susan Wojcicki dies at 56

She became one of the first Google employees in 1999

Susan Wojcicki, former chief executive of YouTube, had a long career at Google. Bloomberg

Susan Wojcicki, the former YouTube chief executive and one of Google’s earliest employees, has died at the age of 56, following a two-year battle against cancer.

“It is with profound sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki passing,” her husband Denis Troper said in a Facebook post on Saturday. “My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after two years of living with non-small cell lung cancer.”

“Susan was not just my best friend and partner in life, but a brilliant mind, a loving mother, and a dear friend to many.”

Ms Wojcicki had a long career with Google.

She joined Google in 1999 to become one of the first few employees of the web search company, years before it acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006, according to Reuters.

She became the chief executive of YouTube in 2014, following her stint as the senior vice president for advertising products at Google.

She stepped down from the position in 2023 to focus on family and other projects and was replaced by Neal Mohan, her deputy at the video streaming platform.

Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google parent Alphabet, said he was “unbelievably saddened” by the death of Ms Wojcicki.

“She is as core to the history of Google as anyone, and it’s hard to imagine that world without her,” Mr Pichai wrote on X.

“She was an incredible person, leader and friend who had a tremendous impact on the world and I’m one of countless Googlers who is better for knowing her.”

In a separate blog post, Mr Pichai said Ms Wojcicki’s journey was inspiring. “From the garage she rented to [Google co-founders] Larry [Page] and Sergey [Brin] … to leading teams across consumer products and building our Ads business … to becoming the CEO of YouTube, is inspiring by any measure.”

“As one of the earliest Google employees to take maternity leave … [she] 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,” he added.

Ms Wojcicki always put others first in her day-to-day life, he said. “I’ll never forget her kindness to me as a prospective 'Noogler' 20 years ago. During my Google interview, she took me out for an ice cream and a walk around campus. I was sold – on Google and Susan,” Mr Pichai, said.

Mr Mohan said he “lost a teammate, mentor, and friend”.

“I had the good fortune of meeting Susan 17 years ago when she was the architect of the DoubleClick acquisition. Her legacy lives on in everything she touched @google and @youtube,” he said on X.

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