AI-focused rejig: YouTube announces 'voluntary exit programme' for US staff

The reorganisation of YouTube with new teams will commence next month on November 5, 2025.

Earlier this week, we saw Amazon announcing to lay off 14,000 plus employees, as the company began to reallocate resources and is betting big on generative Artificial Intelligence to streamline its workflow.

Now, Google's video platform YouTube has begun a similar exercise in the company's home country US.

In a leaked memo (via Business Insider) to employees, YouTube chief Neal Mohan has announced a major company reorganisation, offering a 'voluntary exit programme' with a severance package.

Mohan has revealed that YouTube's next frontier, like Google's, will be AI. In that order, there will be a shift in focus and investments in areas of growth.

"Looking to the future, the next frontier for YouTube is AI, which has the potential to transform every part of the platform. We need to set ourselves up to make the most of this opportunity. That means ensuring every fast-growing area gets the focus and investment it needs to succeed, building deeper expertise behind our core businesses, and driving faster decision making and execution," said Mohan.

As part of the major rejig, it has set up three new product organisations within YouTube, including one, Viewer Products.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan.

The team led by Johanna Voolich will be responsible for improving the search and discovery of products related to living rooms on YouTube.

Two, Creator and Community Products. The team led by Amjad Hanif and Toni Reid will focus on driving the creator economy by developing user-friendly gen AI tools for Shorts, Live and creative artists of all sizes.

And, three, Subscription Products. This team, helmed by Christian Oestlien, will be focused on driving up YouTube's all subscription models, including YouTube TV, YouTube Music, YouTube Premium and OTT.

All the team leads will work directly under Neal Mohan. However, the YouTube chief noted that there won't be layoffs, but employees will be given the option to join other teams in the company. And, also, those who like to resign will be offered a reasonable severance package.

The voluntary exit programme will take effect on Thursday (October 30) and the individual employees will be receiving an email with the severance package.

And, the reorganisation of YouTube with new teams will commence next month on November 5.

The news comes just hours after Google parent firm Alphabet released the earnings details, showing YouTube clocking $10.3 billion in advertising in Q3, 2025, a record 15 per cent year-over-year growth.

Here is the leaked memo:

Hi YouTubers,

Over the last 20 years, YouTube has grown from a scrappy video-sharing site into one of the world's largest streaming platforms.

Our success has been built on big, bold bets that have paid off year after year, from launching the YouTube Partner Program to investing in the Living Room. Today, those investments have created a thriving business: we've paid over $100B to our ecosystem, secured our position as the #1 streamer in the US for over two years, and built a subscriptions engine with over 125 million M+P and 8M YouTube TV subscribers.

Looking to the future, the next frontier for YouTube is AI, which has the potential to transform every part of the platform. We need to set ourselves up to make the most of this opportunity. That means ensuring every fast-growing area gets the focus and investment it needs to succeed, building deeper expertise behind our core businesses, and driving faster decision making and execution. To do that, we are creating three separate Product organizations that will report directly to me:

Viewer Products: This team will focus on the viewer experience, including improvements to Search & Discovery, accelerating growth in the Living Room, increasing engagement with our strategic audiences, investing in our world-class infrastructure, and continuing to build on our foundation of responsibility. This team will be led by Johanna. It will bring together CoreX, Living Room, Infrastructure, and Trust & Safety and will be split across three pillars led by Emily, Jennie, and Woojin.

Creator & Community Products: This team will focus on driving creation through GenAI tools, Shorts, Live, and supporting creators of all sizes. It will also focus on building community across the platform. It will bring together Creator, led by Amjad, and EMCO, led by Toni. We will open a search to find a leader of this team, and Johanna will lead in the interim.

Subscription Products: This team will focus on driving our subscriptions growth across Music & Premium and OTT to take advantage of the tremendous opportunity in this space. This team will be led by Christian and will bring together Music, led by T.Jay; Premium, Commerce, and Nitrate, led by Will; and OTT, for which we will hire a new leader.

I am also pleased to announce that JT will take on an expanded role, as the head of UX. In addition, the UX org will move under Scott. Engineering and UX are both teams which work horizontally across the organization, and we believe that by bringing these teams together, they can both benefit from scaled processes and best practices. Shopping, led by Travis, will continue to report to Scott.

These changes will take effect on November 5. There are no role eliminations as part of this reorganization. You can view the updated org chart here. Aparna, Mary Ellen, Matt and Shachar will continue leading their teams, reporting directly to me.

It's an incredibly exciting time at YouTube and many opportunities and challenges lie ahead. But we also understand some of you may be ready for a new challenge, so we've decided now is the right time to offer a Voluntary Exit Program.

Starting today (October 30, 2025), eligible US YouTubers in my direct-reporting org have the ability to voluntarily leave with a severance package. US YouTubers will receive more details in a separate note.

I have never been more excited about the future of YouTube. We have grown in size, scope and complexity over the years, but our core leadership structure has not evolved in a decade. I believe that these changes will set us up well to continue our success.

-- Neal

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