Peter Kafka
YouTube’s product and engineering chief is leaving the online video site to join Google’s search team.
The departure of Satyajeet Salgar reflects a reshaping of YouTube under Susan Wojcicki, the veteran Google advertising executive who took over as head of the site in February.
Salgar had been responsible for running the engineering staff at YouTube. He is credited with building the site’s live-streaming platform for delivering news and sports — including the 2012 U.S. presidential debates.
In a tweet, Salgar announced he was taking a new role at the company, saying, “After nearly seven years at Google, I guess it was finally time to work on Google search. :-)”
Salgar’s move followed the departure of YouTube’s head of product, Shishir Mehrotra, who this spring was moved into an advisory role. The move is not a huge surprise, given Mehrotra was also a candidate to take over YouTube, a job that went to Wojcicki.
Since her appointment, Wojcicki has been working to raise the profile of YouTube’s home-grown stars – building awareness the old-fashioned way, through billboards and TV ads — in the service of bolstering the site’s ad performance.
A Youtube spokesperson confirmed Salgar’s departure. He has had several jobs at Google, including working in commerce and payments and in games.
Update at 3:54 p.m. MondayThis post has been updated to correct Salgar’s title.
