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YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who has led the world’s largest video site for the past nine years, is stepping down from her role. She will be replaced by her longtime lieutenant, Neil Mohan.

In a letter sent to YouTube employees, Wojcicki said he was leaving to “start a new chapter focused on my family, health and personal projects that I am passionate about.” I was.

During her tenure, YouTube became increasingly important to business for Google, which acquired the site in 2006, and Alphabet, the holding company that owns both companies. In 2022, YouTube generated her $29.2 billion in ad sales. gross income.

Wojcicki’s resignation is also a meaningful symbol for Google and technology in general. For years, she was one of the few women to run a large tech business. And she was integral to her founding of Google. She famously rented out her Silicon Valley garage to her co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, and a year later she joined Google as its 16th employee. .

“Susan holds a unique place in Google’s history and has made some of the most incredible contributions to products used by people around the world,” Paige and Brin said in a statement. I am grateful for all that I have accomplished over the years.”

Wojcicki started out running marketing at Google, helping build an online advertising business, and at one point running the company’s video service, which was trying to compete with YouTube. She ultimately argued that Google should buy the site instead.

During her tenure as leader of YouTube, she focused on making advertisers more accessible, while also trying to crack down on the large, unruly group of video creators that ran the site. I was there.

This has been regularly followed by video creators who said YouTube’s rule changes and moderation decisions had made it harder for them to make a living, and how the company did enough to discourage hate speech and other remarks. It led to criticism from both outsiders who said they weren’t hitting. Objectionable content. “I was able to upset everyone,” Wojcicki told me in a 2019 interview.

Wojcicki has worked closely with her successor, Mohan, for many years. The two first worked together to build her Google display advertising business, and Mohan has been her Wojcicki’s number two on YouTube since 2015.

“Susan has built an extraordinary team, has a successor in Neil, and is quickly on track and ready to lead YouTube to success over the next decade,” Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in a statement. is done,” he said.

Below is the full text of the letter to Wojcicki employees.

Subject: Personal update

Hello YouTubers,

Twenty-five years ago, I decided to join a group of graduate students at Stanford University who were building a new search engine. Their names were Larry and Sergey. I saw the potential of what they were building and it was incredibly inspiring. Even though the company had only a few users and no revenue, I decided to join the team. rice field.

It will be one of the best decisions of my life.

Over the years, I have played many roles and done so many things. For example, he worked on managing marketing, co-creating Google Image Search, leading Google’s first video and book search, the early stages of creating AdSense, and acquiring YouTube and DoubleClick. , served as Senior Vice President of Advertising, and for the past nine years he served as CEO of YouTube. With a mission to benefit the lives of so many people around the world, I tackled each challenge that came my way. It’s about finding information, telling stories, and supporting creators, artists, and small businesses. We are very proud of all that we have achieved. It’s exhilarating, meaningful, and all-consuming.

Today, after nearly 25 years here, I’m stepping back from my role as head of YouTube and starting a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects that I’m passionate about. .

We have a great leadership team in place at YouTube, so I feel we can do this. When I joined YouTube nine years ago, one of my top priorities was assembling a great management team. Neal Mohan is one of those leaders and will be the new head of SVP and YouTube. I have spent nearly 15 years of my career with Neil since he came to his Google with his DoubleClick acquisition in 2007. His role grew to his SVP of Display and Video Advertising. He took over as Chief Product Officer of his YouTube in 2015. Since then, he has launched top-notch products and his UX team, playing a key role in the launch of some of the biggest products such as YouTube TV, YouTube Music, Premium and Shorts. He led the Trust and Safety team to ensure that YouTube lived up to its responsibilities as a global platform. He has a great taste for our product, our business, our community of creators and users, and our employees. Neil he would be a great leader on YouTube.

With all the work we’re doing through short videos, streaming, subscriptions, and the promise of AI, YouTube’s most exciting opportunities are right in front of us, and Neil is the right person to lead us.

Every YouTuber I’ve had the chance to work with has done a lot to make this platform better over the years. This amazing community of creators, artists, viewers and advertisers have not only been able to coexist, but thrive together. thank you!

In the short term, I plan to support Neal and help him through the transition, including continuing to work with the YouTube team, coaching team members, and meeting with creators. Over the long term, Sundar has agreed to act as an advisor to Google and Alphabet. This will allow us to draw on our many years of diverse experience to provide advice and guidance across the Google and Alphabet portfolios of companies. This is a very important time for Google. I remember the early days. It’s an era of incredible product and technology innovation, huge opportunities, and a healthy disregard for the impossible.

Beyond that, since I am still there, I have the opportunity to thank the thousands of people around the world who I have worked with and learned from. I would like to thank I would also like to thank Larry and Sergey for inviting me on the adventure of his life. I always dreamed of working for a company with a mission that could change the world for the better. Thanks to you and your vision, I got the chance to live that dream. It’s an absolute privilege to be a part of it, and I’m excited for what’s next.

I am always grateful for your help.

Susan