YouTube announced Thursday that CEO Susan Wojcicki will step down after nearly a decade at the company. In a note to her employees, Wojcicki explained that she will focus on her family, health, and personal projects, though she will continue to advise the company. She will be replaced by Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer since 2015, who helped launch Shorts, TikTok’s competitor.
Wojcicki joined Google in 1999 as its 16th employee and became the company’s first chief marketing officer. During her time there, she helped create products such as Google Image Search and AdSense, participated in Google’s acquisition of YouTube, and became senior vice president of ads. She joined YouTube as CEO in 2014 and led the launch of products such as YouTube Gaming, YouTube Music, YouTube Premium, and YouTube TV.
Wojcicki talked about her time at Google and the excitement she felt joining the company. She also rented her garage to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were building the company. Although the company was small and had no revenue at the time, Wojcicki said that joining the team was one of the best decisions of her life. In her note to employees, she expressed her excitement for what’s to come in her new role.