Susan Wojcicki, the former CEO of YouTube and a key figure in Google’s early success, passed away at the age of 56 due to lung cancer, according to her husband. She is survived by her four children.
In 1998, Wojcicki and her husband rented their garage to Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who were working on Google at the time. She later joined Google as its 16th employee, where she conceived the concept of allowing other websites to integrate Google search boxes on their pages and developed advertisement-brokering software that gave the start-up an advantage over its established competitors.
Wojcicki supported Google’s acquisition of YouTube in 2006. Eight years later, she assumed the role of CEO of the video platform, spearheading its growth into a company with a value exceeding $30 billion through advertising and subscription revenues, all while addressing various contentious issues related to content moderation and regulations.
In a tribute to Wojcicki, Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote that Wojcicki was “as core to the history of Google as anyone, and it’s hard to imagine the world without her.”