Robert Kyncl will leave YouTube in early 2023 after more than 12 years as an executive at a video giant. Most recently, he was YouTube’s chief business officer, helping grow it into a multi-billion dollar powerhouse.
Kyncl’s departure was announced Monday in a memo from CEO Susan Wojcicki to YouTube employees, a copy of which was obtained diversity.
Kyncl is leaving “to start the next chapter in his career,” Wojcicki wrote. “Under his leadership, YouTube has forged new relationships and partnerships across music, traditional media and technology, and our creator ecosystem – without him, the term ‘YouTuber’ would not be a mainstream term.”
Kyncl will be succeeded in the role of chief business officer, effective October 3, by Mary Ellen Coe, a 10-year Google veteran who most recently served as president of Google Customer Solutions and the internet company’s global ads business for medium and small businesses supervised. Before joining Google in 2012, Coe was a partner at McKinsey & Co. for 12 years advising consumer, media and technology companies. She is a board member of Merck & Co. and was a board member of Whole Foods when the grocery chain was acquired by Amazon.
“I’ve had the privilege of working with Mary Ellen over the years, and she is a smart, effective leader who cares deeply about our users, partners and their employees,” Wojcicki wrote in the memo.
Kyncl has faced some failures amid its successes in increasing engagement and revenue on YouTube. He led the founding of YouTube’s original content team, which initially aimed to form the foundation of YouTube’s subscription service and become a rival to either Netflix or Hulu. That didn’t work out — and YouTube shut down most of its original entertainment projects. Before joining YouTube in 2010, Kyncl worked at Netflix for more than seven years, most recently as VP of Content.
Read Wojcicki’s memo to YouTube staff:
Hello everybody,
After 12 years building YouTube’s corporate organization into the powerhouse it is today, with a talented global team, millions of successful creators and strong partnerships across many industries, Robert has decided to leave YouTube in 2023 to start the next chapter of his to start a career. Under his leadership, YouTube has forged new relationships and partnerships across music, traditional media and technology, and our YouTube ecosystem – without him, the term “YouTuber” would not be a mainstream term. Thanks to Robert and his leadership team, we make a meaningful contribution to the media industry having paid over $30 billion to creators, artists and media companies over the past 3 years. We owe so much of our growth and impact to Robert’s leadership, and I want to celebrate his amazing contribution to YouTube.
Change gives us an opportunity to review where we are and where we need to go, and I am very pleased to announce that we have hired a new Chief Business Officer, Mary Ellen Coe, to lead the corporate organization. Mary Ellen has spent the last 10 years at Google, most recently as President of Customer Solutions at GBO, serving millions of customers and thousands of partners worldwide. She has extensive experience working with small businesses and is able to bring this expertise to our work with creatives, many of whom are their own small businesses. Prior to Google, she worked as a partner at McKinsey & Company in consumer, media and technology for more than a decade. I have had the privilege of working with Mary Ellen over the years and she is a smart, effective leader who cares deeply about our users, partners and their employees. It starts on October 3rd and will be reported back to by Christina, Gautam, Lyor, Pedro, Tara and our recently hired VP of Product Partnerships, Miguel.
Given the complexity of our business, I appreciate that Robert will remain to ensure a smooth leadership transition and complete key projects in music and product partnerships.
I want to thank Robert for his dedication to YouTube over the years. He is exceptional at what he does and I am so grateful for the many years we have been able to work together. I will miss his openness, authenticity and humor.
And please join me in welcoming Mary Ellen to YouTube.
Many Thanks,
Suzanne
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