Photo: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic for YouTube)
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down from her role and will be replaced by Neal Mohan, she announced Thursday morning in a letter to staff first reported by Recode.
Why it matters: Wojcicki has been at the helm of the video streaming giant owned by Google for nine years, overseeing its explosive growth and some of its most controversial moments and policy changes.
What she's saying: In the letter, Wojcicki explains she's leaving in order to “start a new chapter focused on my family, health and personal projects I’m passionate about."
The big picture: Wojcicki's departure comes as YouTube faces its slowest growth period in years.
- YouTube's quarterly ad revenue has declined year-over-year for the past two quarters amid wider economic challenges in the ad market.
- The video app continues to face increasing competition from Chinese-owned video app TikTok.
Between the lines: Mohan has been leading YouTube's push to lure more creators to its TikTok rival, Shorts, which surpassed 50 billion daily views in the fourth quarter.
What to watch: Many of Silicon Valley's longtime female executives have departed in recent months, as a decades-long boom in tech winds down into an era of layoffs.
- Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg left the company in September. Meta's chief business officer Marne Levine will leave later this year. Spotify chief content and advertising business officer Dawn Ostroff announced her departure earlier this month.
Flashback: Wojcicki became one of Google's earliest employees after its founders rented a garage from her family.
Editor's note: This story is breaking news and has been updated throughout.