Last month, Travis Kalanick stepped down as the CEO of ridesharing company Uber “after a shareholder revolt made it untenable for him to stay on,” according to the New York Times. In the weeks following that announcement, many rumors have swirled about who will replace Kalanick at Uber’s top position, and some of them have centered on the woman who is arguably online video industry’s most notable executive: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki.
The latest bit of chatter comes from the New York Post, whose sources say Wojcicki is “gaining traction” in Uber’s CEO search. The Post, it’s worth noting, has been criticized for its questionable accuracy in the past, so take its latest bit of pot-stirring with a grain of salt. That said, several other outlets previously noted that Wojcicki would be a strong choice for Kalanick’s former position, though most have added the caveat that it would be difficult to imagine Wojcicki leaving Google, where she has spent the past 18 years.
Kalanick’s departure from Uber appeared to be tied to recent revelations about the app’s toxic culture, which led to multiple reports of sexual harassment and discrimination. Wojcicki’s tenure at YouTube has seen the video site champion female creators, creators of color, and LGBTQ creators, and were she to join Uber, she would be able to take strides to clean up the company’s image. She has already commented on some of Uber’s recent controversies, tweeting that accusations of sexism within the company show “women need to be talking more in corporate America, especially at the top.”
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Clearly, the Wojcicki-to-Uber rumors are all conjecture at this point, but there’s no denying that YouTube’s top exec would be a smart pick for the open CEO position, given Uber’s needs. The odds of Google employee #15 leaving her position in Mountain View seem slim, but we’ll keep an eye out to see how the situation develops.
