Senior management at Google is being shifted around, with SVP of Ads & Commerce Susan Wojcicki taking over at YouTube. With that appointment, which was reported by The Information and Re/code, current YouTube boss Salar Kamangar, is expected to move into another role at Google.
The L-Team, as it’s known, is a collection of senior executives leading Google’s key strategic initiatives, all of whom report directly to CEO Larry Page. When Page took control of Google a few years ago, he reorganized the company’s management structure along product lines, appointing a key lieutenant for each.
Members of the L-Team have come and gone since then, shuffling around within Google based on how they align with the company’s product plans and strategic initiatives. Last spring, Page reorganized the management structure again, demoting Android boss Andy Rubin and maps executive Jeff Huber and promoting Ads & Commerce SVP Sridhar Ramaswamy in their place.
With the Ads piece split, it made sense for Wojcicki to shift to another important piece of Google’s business. Wojcicki, after all, has been a key member of the Google team practically since it was founded. By many, she’s considered the most important woman at Google — and for good reason.
She’s been with Google basically from the start: It was Wojcicki’s garage that Page and Sergey Brin began working out of the same month that Google was incorporated in 1998. She was their 16th hire, and was their first marketing manager. Wojcicki was also a key player in the development of AdSense, as well as the acquisitions of YouTube and DoubleClick.
Now she’ll try her hand at running YouTube, which reportedly generated up to $5.6 billion in ad revenue last year. There’s no doubt that Google thinks that could be bigger, especially given the global TV ad market, and it’ll be her job to help drive that growth.