After long-time CEO Susan Wojcicki stepped down on Thursday, YouTube will be led by Neal Mohan (February 16). Google, YouTube’s parent firm, got its start in Wojcicki’s garage.
Details about Neal Mohan was appointed as the next CEO of YouTube
Her resignation comes at a time when there is a lot of enthusiasm — and a lot of fear — about the role of AI chatbots like ChatGPT (now integrated with rival Microsoft’s Bing Search) in transforming how people search for information online. YouTube is also under severe competition from short-duration videos such as TikTok and Instagram Reels.
Mohan responded to Wojcicki on Twitter, saying, “It’s been amazing to work with you over the years. You’ve built YouTube into an extraordinary home for creators and viewers. I’m excited to continue this awesome and important mission. Looking forward to what lies ahead.”
Neal Mohan, a Stanford graduate, joined Google in 2008 and now serves as YouTube’s chief product officer, overseeing YouTube Shorts and Music. He has also worked with Microsoft and currently serves on the boards of Stitch Fix, a personal styling service, and 23andMe, a genomics and biotechnology startup. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think organisation in the United States.
Mohan earned a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University before enrolling in the university’s Graduate School of Management for an MBA in the early 2000s.
He worked at DoubleClick, an internet advertising company, for many years. With Google’s acquisition in 2007, he became a part of the internet behemoth, eventually rising to the position of senior vice president of Display and Video Advertising. “He has a fantastic understanding of our product, our business, our creative and user communities, and our workers. “Neal will be an excellent leader for YouTube,” stated Wojcicki.
After becoming chief product officer in 2015, Mohan has overseen and launched YouTube’s other major initiatives, according to Fast Company.
“The greatest parallel for me is actually simply thinking about YouTube as a stage,” he told Fast Company last year. Fans require “the greatest possible views of the creators they’re most thrilled about.”
According to a 2013 Business Insider article, he was apparently given the role of Chief Product Officer at Twitter, but Google spent about $100 million to keep him. A former supervisor also described him as a “unique” mix, “an ‘insatiable techie’ with enough business expertise” to communicate with consumers on a strategic level.
Mohan, who is of Indian descent, joins the ranks of other global industry titans such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Indian-origin CEOs have recently led several prominent US corporations, like Laxman Narasimhan, who is slated to take over as CEO of coffee chain Starbucks, and Raj Subramaniam, CEO of FedEx, one of the world’s largest transportation services organisations.
