Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki dies, aged 56

Susan Wojcicki, the former YouTube CEO and one of the first Google employees, has died at the age of 56 after two years of living with cancer.

Her husband, Dennis Troper, announced the news of her death on Friday.

In a post on Facebook he said: “It is with profound sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki passing. My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after two years of living with non-small cell lung cancer.”

The Google chief executive, Sundar Pichai, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday: “Unbelievably saddened by the loss of my dear friend Susan Wojcicki after two years of living with cancer. She is as core to the history of Google as anyone, and it’s hard to imagine the world without her.”

Wojcicki, one of the most prominent women in tech, stepped down from her role at YouTube in 2023, a position she held for nine years, saying she wanted to “start a new chapter focused on my family, health and personal projects I’m passionate about”.

“It would be one of the best decisions of my life,” Wojcicki wrote when she announced her departure.

She was previously a senior vice-president for ad products at Google and became CEO of YouTube in 2014. Before Google, Wojcicki worked at Intel and Bain & Company.