Susan Wojcicki, pioneering former YouTube CEO, dies at 56

Silicon Valley trailblazer and ex-CEO of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki, has passed away at 56 after a two-year battle with non-small-cell lung cancer, according to a Facebook post by her husband, Dennis Troper.

Wojcicki’s impact began in the 1990s when she rented her garage to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin for $1,700 a month, helping develop their search engine. 

She joined Google in 1999 as its 16th employee and led major projects like AdSense, Google Analytics and Google Images.

Wojcicki was instrumental in acquiring YouTube in 2006 and served as its CEO from 2014 until early 2023. Under her watch, YouTube’s user base doubled to over 2 billion.

Wojcicki was known for championing women in tech and paid maternity leave. Her net worth is around $800 million.