Susan Wojcicki, the chief executive officer of YouTube, announced her departure after nearly a decade in the position.
In a blog post on Thursday, Ms. Wojcicki said that she wants to put her family, health, and personal projects first. She will also have an advisory role at Google and Alphabet Inc., the parent company of YouTube.
According to the blog post, Neal Mohan, chief product officer, will be the new leader of YouTube. The adjustment is effective immediately, according to a YouTube spokesperson.
“The time is right for me, and I feel able to do this because we have an incredible leadership team in place at YouTube,” Ms. Wojcicki said in the post.
Ms. Wojcicki’s departure ends a career in which she oversaw YouTube’s growth into a key part of Google’s revenue.
She led the video platform through content moderation issues and new competition from TikTok from ByteDance Ltd.
Mr. Mohan was one of Ms. Wojcicki’s most trusted assistants. He was in charge of improving YouTube products and leading policy debates for the whole platform.
Last month, Ms. Wojcicki was absent from the workplace due to health difficulties, according to sources familiar with the situation. Immediate information regarding the nature of her health issues was unavailable.
Next Chain of Command
YouTube will look for Mr. Mohan’s replacement, according to a YouTube spokesperson. Mr. Mohan will report directly to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google.
Mr. Pichai said in a statement, “Susan has built an exceptional team and has in Neal a successor who is ready to hit the ground running and lead YouTube through its next decade of success,”
The leadership shift followed YouTube’s advertising income downturn and its focus on subscription bundles like YouTube TV. Ad revenue fell 7.8% in the fourth quarter of 2022, the second consecutive quarterly decline after the third quarter.
Ms. Wojcicki will remain in her role on the board of Salesforce, according to a spokesman for the business software company.
Ms. Wojcicki’s Legacy
Ms. Wojcicki, 54, has worked with the search company for 25 years, beginning as its first marketing manager. Since then, she has worked on Google’s image search and managed the video and book search teams.
She was designated YouTube’s chief executive in 2014. Ms. Wojcicki is credited with making YouTube a rising destination for advertisers and expanding into other business lines, as part of her aim to become a one-stop shop for online video since assuming control.
YouTube, which maintains a separate corporate campus from Google, reported $29.2 billion in advertising revenue last year. It has also recently moved deeper into television by building an online marketplace for streaming services and striking a roughly $2 billion a year deal for the NFL’s Sunday Ticket franchise.
Mr. Mohan’s Background
Mr. Mohan moved to YouTube in 2015 after serving as senior vice president of display and video ads at Google, responsible for the company’s business of brokering ads on its own sites and around the internet. He joined Google through its $3.1 billion acquisition of the advertising technology company DoubleClick in 2008.
In December, Mr. Mohan served as the public face of YouTube’s successful bid for Sunday Ticket. He also acted as the platform’s spokesman before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on business and national security issues at social media companies last year.
YouTube experienced another leadership shake-up last year when Robert Kyncl, the platform’s longtime chief business officer, left to become CEO of Warner Music Group Corp.
Source – Tru News Report
