Who Is Neal Mohan, The New Indian American CEO Of YouTube?

Neal Mohan has taken over as CEO of YouTube after longtime leader Susan Wojcicki resigned on Thursday, February 16. Prior to taking over as CEO on Thursday, he served as YouTube's Chief Product Officer. Since joining the company, he has played a crucial role in influencing the growth and success of the platform. Now, Mohan will join the increasing group of CEOs of US-based multinational corporations who are of Indian descent, including Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, Shantanu Narayen, the CEO of Adobe, and Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google.

Mohan graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering after four years of study there. Later, he enrolled in the Graduate School of Management to pursue an MBA.

He began his career at Glorified Technical Support, earning $60,000 annually. 

Then, in 1996, Mohan started working for Accenture (then known as Andersen Consulting).

Afterward, he joined a fledgling company named NetGravity, which was ultimately purchased by DoubleClick, a provider of online advertising. He spent many years working for the internet advertising firm DoubleClick. Once DoubleClick was acquired by Google in 2007, he joined the internet giant and later rose to the position of senior vice president of Display and Video Advertising.

The most notable event in his professional life, though, was when Google offered him an extraordinary bonus of Rs 544 crore to dissuade him from joining Twitter.

At Google, he quickly advanced the ranks. Mohan was essential in the creation of the AdSense program, which lets website owners show Google adverts and make money from clicks. Currently, AdSense is one of the most popular advertising platforms in the world.

Additionally, Mohan has also worked for Microsoft.

In 2015, Mohan switched over to the YouTube team. And since 2015, he has been in charge of YouTube's Shorts and Music sections as its chief product officer. Additionally, he has overseen a number of significant projects that have helped YouTube become into the giant it is today.

In 2015, when Mohan joined YouTube, it was up against fierce competition from other video-sharing websites, so it needed to figure out how to draw more people while bringing in more money. Under Mohan’s direction, YouTube has introduced a variety of popular features and products under Mohan's direction, including YouTube TV, YouTube Music, YouTube Premium, and YouTube Shorts. Plus, he assisted YouTube in enhancing its recommendation algorithms, which are now largely in charge of determining how much time is spent watching on the site.

The emphasis Mohan has placed on creator monetization has been one of his most important contributions to YouTube. Super Talk, Super Stickers, and channel memberships are a some of the new revenue sources he has sought to create for YouTube producers. By enhancing ad targeting and giving content creators greater data, he has also assisted them in getting more value out of their work. His management has enabled YouTube to develop and stay ahead of its competitors.

Currently, he is also a director of the personal styling business Stitch Fix as well as the genomics and biotechnology firm 23andMe. He also belongs to the Council on Foreign Relations, a free-standing US think organisation.