Susan Wojcicki

Susan Wojcicki
Born	Susan Diane Wojcicki 5 7, 1968
Birthplace	Santa Clara, California, U.S.
Died	Template:Death date and age Los Altos, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Business executive
Title	CEO of YouTube (2014–2023)
Known for	CEO of YouTube (2014–2023), early Google employee
Education	UCLA Anderson School of Management (MBA, 1998)
Children	5
Awards	Time 100 (2015)

Susan Diane Wojcicki (Template:IPAc-en; July 5, 1968 – August 9, 2024) was an American business executive who served as the chief executive officer of YouTube from 2014 to 2023. One of the earliest employees at Google, Wojcicki played a foundational role in the company's history — beginning with the decision to rent out her Menlo Park garage to Google's co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, then joining the company in 1999 as its first marketing manager. Over the course of more than two decades in the technology industry, she oversaw Google's advertising business, was instrumental in the company's $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube in 2006, and subsequently led YouTube through a period of significant growth and transformation as its CEO. She was named to the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world in 2015. Wojcicki resigned from YouTube in February 2023 and died on August 9, 2024, at the age of 56, after a two-year battle with lung cancer.

Early Life

Susan Diane Wojcicki was born on July 5, 1968, in Santa Clara, California. She grew up on the campus of Stanford University, where her father, Stanley Wojcicki, was a professor of physics. Her mother, Esther Wojcicki, was an educator and journalist who became known for her work as a journalism teacher at Palo Alto High School.

Wojcicki was the eldest of three sisters. Her sister Janet Wojcicki became an anthropologist and epidemiologist, while her youngest sister, Anne Wojcicki, went on to co-found the personal genomics company 23andMe. The Wojcicki household placed a strong emphasis on education and intellectual curiosity. Esther Wojcicki later described her parenting philosophy using the acronym TRICK — trust, respect, independence, collaboration, and kindness — and credited this approach with helping her daughters develop into leaders in their respective fields.

Stanley Wojcicki had emigrated from Poland, and the family's academic environment on the Stanford campus shaped Susan's formative years. Growing up in the heart of what would become Silicon Valley, Wojcicki was exposed early to a culture of innovation and academic achievement that would later define her career trajectory.

Education

Wojcicki attended Harvard University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990. After completing her undergraduate studies, she continued her education and later enrolled at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where she earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 1998. UCLA Anderson later named Wojcicki among its 100 Inspirational Alumni. In 2025, UCLA Anderson announced that it would honor Wojcicki's legacy by establishing a data science chair in her name, recognizing her contributions to technology and her status as one of the school's most notable graduates.

Career

Early involvement with Google

In 1998, while still completing her MBA at UCLA Anderson, Wojcicki made a decision that would become one of the most celebrated origin stories in Silicon Valley history. She and her then-husband Dennis Troper owned a house in Menlo Park, California, and looking for supplemental income, she rented out the garage to two Stanford graduate students — Larry Page and Sergey Brin — who were working on a new search engine called Google. The garage at 232 Santa Margarita Avenue served as Google's first headquarters and became an iconic symbol of the company's humble beginnings.

Wojcicki joined Google formally in 1999 as the company's first marketing manager, becoming one of its earliest employees. In this role, she helped build the foundation of Google's marketing operations during a critical period of the company's early growth. She went on to play a central role in Google's online advertising business, which would become the company's primary source of revenue.

During her time overseeing advertising at Google, Wojcicki was involved in the development and management of several key advertising products, including AdSense and AdWords, which transformed online advertising and generated billions of dollars in annual revenue for the company. She also oversaw Google's original video service before the acquisition of YouTube.

Acquisition of YouTube

One of Wojcicki's most consequential contributions to Google came in 2006, when she observed the rapid growth of YouTube, the video-sharing platform founded by former PayPal employees. Wojcicki advocated internally for Google to acquire YouTube, arguing that the platform's trajectory warranted the investment. Google's board approved the deal, and the acquisition was completed for $1.65 billion — a figure that was considered substantial at the time but would prove to be a fraction of YouTube's eventual value to Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc.

CEO of YouTube (2014–2023)

In February 2014, Wojcicki was appointed CEO of YouTube, succeeding Salar Kamangar, who had led the platform since 2010. Her appointment was widely covered in the technology press and marked a new phase for the video platform.

Product expansion and new services

Under Wojcicki's leadership, YouTube launched a series of new products and services aimed at expanding the platform's reach and diversifying its revenue streams. In February 2015, YouTube launched YouTube Kids, a standalone application designed to provide a child-friendly viewing experience with parental controls and curated content.

In August 2015, YouTube launched YouTube Gaming, a dedicated website and set of applications aimed at the gaming community, positioning YouTube as a competitor to Twitch in the live game streaming market. Later that year, in November 2015, YouTube launched a dedicated YouTube Music application that allowed users to listen to music with offline and background playback capabilities.

In October 2015, Google introduced YouTube Red (later rebranded as YouTube Premium), a subscription service priced at $9.99 per month that offered an ad-free YouTube experience along with access to original content and other premium features. These launches represented a strategic effort to expand YouTube beyond its core advertising-supported model and compete in multiple entertainment verticals simultaneously.

Advertising controversies and content moderation

Wojcicki's tenure as CEO was also marked by significant challenges related to content moderation and advertiser relations. In March 2017, YouTube faced a major crisis when investigations revealed that advertisements from major brands were appearing alongside extremist and hateful content on the platform. The controversy led several prominent advertisers to suspend their advertising on YouTube, creating what became known as the "adpocalypse."

The BBC reported on the growing backlash in early 2017, as companies and governments expressed concern about their advertisements funding inappropriate or harmful content. In response, YouTube implemented stricter advertising policies and content review processes, though the tension between open content creation and brand safety remained a persistent challenge throughout Wojcicki's tenure.

In early 2018, YouTube faced another controversy when Logan Paul, one of the platform's most popular creators, posted a video from Japan's Aokigahara forest that showed a dead body. The incident raised further questions about YouTube's content moderation policies and the responsibilities of the platform toward its audience. Wojcicki addressed the controversy publicly.

Advocacy for gender equality in tech

Throughout her career and particularly during her time as YouTube CEO, Wojcicki spoke publicly about the challenges women face in the technology industry. In a 2017 essay for Vanity Fair, she discussed her own experiences with gender bias and offered perspectives on how to address systemic barriers for women in Silicon Valley. The essay addressed issues of workplace culture and representation in the male-dominated technology sector.

Resignation

On February 16, 2023, Wojcicki announced her resignation as CEO of YouTube in a message to employees. In the announcement, she reflected on her 25-year career at Google and YouTube and stated her intention to "start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects." Neal Mohan, who had served as YouTube's chief product officer, succeeded her as CEO.

Personal Life

Wojcicki married Dennis Troper in November 1998 in a ceremony held at the Palo Alto Unitarian Universalist Church. The couple had five children together.

After stepping down from YouTube, Wojcicki was diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer. According to Scientific American, her diagnosis came as a shock, as she had no history of smoking or other typical risk factors for the disease. Following her diagnosis, Wojcicki dedicated herself to learning about and fighting the disease, seeking to understand why she had developed lung cancer and advocating for more research into the condition.

Susan Wojcicki died on August 9, 2024, at her home in Los Altos, California, at the age of 56, after living with lung cancer for approximately two years. Her death was announced by Google CEO Sundar Pichai and was widely mourned in the technology industry.

Recognition

Wojcicki received numerous accolades over the course of her career. In 2015, she was included on the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world, recognizing her role in shaping YouTube and online video. Forbes tracked her among the world's most notable business figures, estimating her net worth at $765 million in 2022.

UCLA Anderson School of Management named her among its 100 Inspirational Alumni, citing her impact on technology and business. In June 2025, nearly a year after her death, UCLA Anderson announced the establishment of a data science chair in Wojcicki's honor, recognizing her lasting contributions to the field of technology and her legacy as one of the school's most prominent graduates.

Harvard University also acknowledged Wojcicki's legacy, highlighting her support of the university and her broader impact on the technology industry. Harvard described her as someone who created "an enduring legacy of impact" through both her professional accomplishments and her philanthropic activities.

Fast Company profiled Wojcicki at the time of her YouTube appointment, noting the breadth of her contributions to Google's business over more than fifteen years. The San Jose Mercury News also profiled her career trajectory and her central role in the growth of both Google and YouTube.

Legacy

Susan Wojcicki's career spanned the formative decades of the modern internet industry. Her involvement with Google from its earliest days — beginning with the rental of her garage and continuing through more than two decades of executive leadership — placed her at the center of several of the technology sector's most significant developments. As Google's first marketing manager, she helped build the advertising infrastructure that became the company's primary revenue engine.

Her recommendation that Google acquire YouTube in 2006 proved to be one of the most consequential business decisions in the company's history. The platform grew from a startup purchased for $1.65 billion into one of the world's largest media properties, with billions of users worldwide. As YouTube's CEO from 2014 to 2023, she oversaw the launch of multiple new products and services, including YouTube Kids, YouTube Gaming, YouTube Music, and YouTube Premium, expanding the platform's scope beyond user-generated content into gaming, music streaming, and subscription services.

Wojcicki also navigated YouTube through complex challenges related to content moderation, advertiser relations, and the responsibilities of operating one of the world's largest platforms for user-generated content. Her public advocacy on issues of gender equality in the technology industry contributed to broader conversations about representation and workplace culture in Silicon Valley.

Following her death in 2024, institutions including UCLA Anderson and Harvard University moved to memorialize her contributions, establishing academic honors and reflecting on her impact on the technology industry and on higher education. Her family's story — with her mother Esther Wojcicki's educational philosophy and her sisters' achievements in science and business — became part of a broader narrative about the environment and values that shaped one of Silicon Valley's most consequential executives.