Susan Wojcicki, one of Google’s founding employees and the former head of YouTube, passed away at the age of 56.
After battling lung cancer for two years, Ms. Wojcicki passed away, according to a statement made by Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google.
Wojcicki served as CEO of the video-sharing platform from 2014 to 2023.
She oversaw YouTube during the web’s pivotal shift towards social media, but also as online platforms faced increased scrutiny for spreading misinformation, hate speech, and other harmful content.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders, first ran the company from her garage in Menlo Park, California.
Among her other accomplishments, she negotiated the company’s first search technology licensing agreements and oversaw the early development of Google’s picture search.
Alphabet’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, expressed his “unbelievably saddened” state on X/Twitter, noting that Ms Wojcicki was “as core to the history of Google as anyone.”
“It is with profound sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki’s passing. My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after 2 years of living with non-small cell lung cancer,” Dennis Troper wrote in a Facebook post.
“Her impact on our family and the world was immeasurable. We are heartbroken, but grateful for the time we had with her,” Troper said. “Please keep our family in your thoughts as we navigate this difficult time.”
Wojcicki left YouTube in February 2023 to prioritise her family, health, and personal initiatives.
“She was an incredible person, leader and friend who had a tremendous impact on the world and I’m one of countless Googlers who is better for knowing her. We will miss her dearly,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on X.
We earlier reported that YouTube has launched a new creator-focused artificial intelligence (AI) tool.
This new tool, powered by Google’s in-house AI chatbot, Gemini, allows platform video makers to brainstorm video ideas.
