Susan Wojcicki: Google’s Imelda?

Posted on August 6th, 2008. Written by Rico.

Valleywag is pretty hard on Susan Wojcicki, the sister-in-law of Google founder Sergey Brin and current VP for Product Management, nowadays. So hard in fact, we’re pretty much reminded of Imelda Marcos. In this analogy, Sergey is of course former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos, while Susan plays the woman who sabotaged Ferdie’s supposedly progressive government.

Imelda Marcos Did What?

To recap, we’ve heard from so many Ferdie apologists that Imelda Marcos’ supremely extravagant lifestyle was to blame for the collapse and hatred of his government, with the man’s reported gains in developing Philippine society sidetracked by her purchases of prime New York real-estate and alleged $5 million shopping tours in foreign countries. It’s all documented on Wikipedia for you to see!

Susan = Imelda?

In Google’s case, Susan’s handling of the tremendously important (note how we drip with sarcasm) Google Daycare Controversy has pissed off lots of employees, to the point that they’re looking for other jobs:

After taking its childcare programs in-house, at the behest of Google executive Susan Wojcicki, the sister-in-law of founder Sergey Brin, Google hiked its rates 70 percent. Parents were infuriated not just at the price hike but, accustomed to Google’s culture of analysis-driven consensus, at the imperious way the decision was handed down. Nocera’s reporting reveals more numbers showing just how incompetent Google is at daycare — and how comfortable Brin’s PR handlers are at lying on his behalf.

To make a long metaphor short, this woman is being accused of disturbing the peace maintained with an IT corporate darling. Much like how, once again, it’s all Imelda’s fault that Ferdinand Marcos was never able to make the Philippine great.

Valleywag posts on Susan Wojcicki
The Wit and Wisdom of Imelda Marcos