Susan Wojcicki is stepping down as CEO of YouTube after nine years — and nearly 25 years at Google, reports ‘Variety’, adding that the company’s Indian American Chief Product Officer, Neal Mohan, will replace her.
Wojcicki announced her departure in a memo to YouTube staff on Thursday. “I’ve decided to step back from my role as the head of YouTube and start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about,” she wrote, according to ‘Variety’.
“The time is right for me, and I feel able to do this because we have an incredible leadership team in place at YouTube,” Wojcicki continued.
Announcing that Mohan would step into her shoes, she wrote: “When I joined YouTube nine years ago, one of my first priorities was bringing in an incredible leadership team. Neal Mohan was one of those leaders, and he’ll be the SVP and new head of YouTube. I’ve spent nearly 15 years of my career working with Neal, first when he came over to Google with the DoubleClick acquisition in 2007 and as his role grew to become SVP of Display and Video Ads. He became YouTube’s Chief Product Officer in 2015.
“Since then, he has set up a top-notch product and UX team, played pivotal roles in the launch of some of our biggest products, including YouTube TV, YouTube Music and Premium and Shorts, and has led our Trust and Safety team, ensuring that YouTube lives up to its responsibility as a global platform.”
Concluding her announcement, she noted that Mohan has a “wonderful sense for our product, our business, our creator and user communities, and our employees. Neal will be a terrific leader for YouTube.”
