- Susan Wojcicki is no longer CEO of YouTube
- She is replaced by Neal Mohan.
- She was also the owner of the garage that the search engine rented for $1,700 a month.
In a blog post, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki recently announced her resignation. Having worked at Google for 25 years, she is also the owner of the garage in which the Mountain View firm was created. Joining Google was, she says, one of the best decisions of her life. But now, Susan Wojcicki wants to open a new chapter in her life, to take care of her family, her health and personal projects.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Is Stepping Down, To Be Replaced By Product Chief https://t.co/PHU9RFeeWM pic.twitter.com/IJg1sGNEwF
— Forbes (@Forbes) February 16, 2023
Initially, Wojcicki will accompany his successor at the head of YouTube. This is Neal Mohan, who held the position of chief product officer, and who will now be senior vice president. But later, the former CEO of YouTube will hold an advisory position at Google and Alphabet. Thus, although she is no longer at the head of YouTube, she does not completely leave the Mountain View firm.
Wojcicki isn’t really leaving Google
“It will allow me to draw on my various experiences over the years to offer advice and guidance across Google and the portfolio of Alphabet companies. This is a hugely important time for Google – it reminds me of the early days – incredible product and technology innovation, huge opportunities and a healthy disregard for the impossible”she wrote.
His successor at the head of YouTube will in any case have his work cut out for him. The video platform must continue to develop Shorts, its competitor from TikTok. And for Google, 2023 is an important year since the firm is engaged in an AI race against Microsoft. At this time, it’s unclear how this might affect YouTube. But according to the former CEO, Neal Mohan is the right person to meet these challenges.
Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan is the new Head of YouTube pic.twitter.com/8neYjjeioB
—Dexerto (@Dexerto) February 16, 2023
Otherwise, as many media outlets have pointed out, Neal Mohan is a very blockchain- and web3-friendly person. In 2022, for example, he mentioned the interest of NFTs for creators. “We believe that new technologies such as blockchain and NFTs can allow creators to build deeper relationships with their fans. Together they will be able to collaborate on new projects and earn money in a way that was not possible before”he wrote in a post on the official YouTube blog.
Google started in his garage
According to a CNBC article, while working for Intel’s marketing department, Susan Wojcicki rented her garage to Google creators. The rent was $1,700 a month. But Wojcicki ends up joining the team, and is Google’s 16th marketing employee.
“We couldn’t have imagined, in 1998, when we moved our servers from a dorm to a garage, the journey that will follow”, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page said at the time. Google left the garage, to occupy real offices, in 1999.
