Susan Wojcicki was a Silicon Valley executive and the former CEO of YouTube, responsible for urging Google to purchase the then-new streaming giant in 2006.
- Died: August 9, 2024 (Who else died on August 9?)
- Details of death: Died of lung cancer at the age of 56.
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Susan Wojcicki’s legacy
Susan Wojcicki’s father was a physicist at Stanford University, allowing her to grow up on campus surrounded by math geniuses. For her own education, she graduated from Harvard University, then earned degrees from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the UCLA Anderson School of Management. An interest in technology landed her a marketing job at Intel, though her road to success would take a more indirect route: through her home’s garage.
In 1998, Wojcicki rented her garage to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google. The pair used it as their first office. Wojcicki ended up doing marketing for them, becoming their marketing manager (and Google’s 16th employee overall) in 1999. In 2003, she played a major role in building the success of AdSense, one of Google’s mainstay services. Three years later, she urged the company to purchase what was then still a startup company: a video sharing service called YouTube.
Wojcicki became CEO of YouTube in 2014, leading it during a time of huge growth and mainstream success. Under her leadership, YouTube became one of the most widely used and viewed platforms in the world, with over two billion logged in users every month. She helped spearhead efforts to combat misinformation on the platform, aided in devising revenue-sharing programs that have allowed YouTube creators to earn a living creating content, and more.
An advocate of paid family leave, she pushed for companies, including her own, to embrace a healthier balance between work and home life for their employees.
Wojcicki has been on both Forbes’ and Fortune’s lists of most powerful women; in 2023, she made Forbes’ list of America’s Self-Made Women. The Freedom Forum Institute recognized her with a Free Expression Award in 2021.
Notable quote
“Today’s creators on YouTube have built an entire creative economy and are redefining the face of media. They are truly next-generation media businesses, with millions of views and global brands, who are contributing to local and global economies, and creating jobs.” — Interview with the Female Founders Fund, 2019
Tributes to Susan Wojcicki
Full obituary: NPR
