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The career rise of Susan Wojcicki, who rented her garage to Google's founders in 1998 and is now the CEO of YouTube (GOOG, GOOGL)

Susan Wojcicki
  • In 1998, Susan Wojcicki rented her Menlo Park, California, garage to Sergey Brin and Larry Page for $1,700 per month.
  • The next year, she would join Google as its 16th employee.
  • Below is a glimpse at the life of Susan Wojcicki and her rise at Google, from an early employee to YouTube's chief exec.

Most landlords only hope their renters pay on time, keep a tidy space, and don't disturb the neighbors.

But for Susan Wojcicki, her renters ended up offering up a bit more: the chance to become employee number 16 at a young search engine startup called Google.

Of course, it's taken more than this incredible circumstance for Wojcicki to rise the ranks at Google. From expanding the company's ad business to convincing founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to purchase an up-and-coming video sharing service called YouTube, Wojcicki has played a vital role in Google becoming one of the world's most valuable companies.

Here's a glimpse at the life of Susan Wojcicki and her rise at Google, from employee number 16 to YouTube's chief exec:

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Source: Forbes

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Source: USA Today

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Joi Ito

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Anne would go on to marry and later divorce Sergey Brin.

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Wojcicki also received a master's degree in economics from UC Santa Cruz and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management.

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Wojcicki charged Page and Brin $1,700 per month to rent out the garage space.

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Source: USA Today

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Business Insider

Source: USA Today

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Today, more than 11 million websites use AdSense. In 2017, Google's total ad revenue was over $95 billion.

Source: USA Today

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Wojcicki had seen how strongly her own children reacted to user-generated videos and knew there would be huge potential in such a platform.

So she "worked up some spreadsheets" to justify the purchase with Page and Brin. Ultimately, she convinced the Google cofounders to buy YouTube for $1.65 billion.

By 2018, Morgan Stanley valued YouTube at $160 billion.

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Wojcicki was four months pregnant when she joined Google in 1999 and became the company's first employee to go on maternity leave.

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It "was a bit of a leap," she told Glamour in a 2014 interview , describing her decision to join the 15-person startup while pregnant. "But sometimes you have to do the right thing for you right now."

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In 2017, she wrote a piece in Vanity Fair entitled , "How to Break Up the Silicon Valley Boy's Club."

Later that year, Wojcicki wrote an op-ed for Fortune where she described having to explain to her daughter that there are no biological reasons why fewer women are in tech.

Source: Forbes

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Major products released during Wojcicki's tenure include YouTube Gaming , YouTube Music , YouTube Premium , and YouTube TV .

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Source: Forbes

See Also:

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