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Neal Mohan

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Neal Mohan
Mohan in 2023
Born (1973-07-14) July 14, 1973 (age 51)
Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.
EducationStanford University (BS, MBA)
OccupationBusiness executive
TitleChief Product Officer of YouTube (November 7, 2018-2023) CEO of YouTube (2023–present)
PredecessorSusan Wojcicki
Board member of
Spouse
Hema Sareen Mohan
​
(after 1996)​
Neal Mohan's voice
On COVID-19's impact on YouTube
Recorded July 2020
Signature

Neal Mohan (born July 14, 1973[1][2]) is an American business executive who is the current chief executive officer of YouTube.[3][4]

Mohan was born in Lafayette, Indiana.[2] He spent most of his childhood growing up in the United States before moving to India with his family in 1985.[5] In 1992, he moved back to the U.S. and attended Stanford University. He majored in electrical engineering and graduated in 1996.[6] Mohan started working at Accenture, before joining a startup called NetGravity. He swiftly became a prominent figure within the company.

After returning to Stanford in 2003 to pursue his MBA, NetGravity's parent company, DoubleClick, which had acquired the company in 1997, began to undergo serious issues stemming from another 1999 acquisition of Abacus Direct; this ultimately led to the merger being effectively annulled. Mohan was enlisted by David Rosenblatt, who had become DoubleClick's new CEO in the wake of the split, to work at the company in 2005. Together, they reoriented the company, devising a plan said to still have an influence on Google's operations.

DoubleClick was acquired by Google in 2007, an acquisition largely oriented by Google executive Susan Wojcicki. She and Mohan extensively worked together for the next fifteen years. In 2015, Mohan became CPO of YouTube, which Wojcicki headed as CEO. Throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s, he spearheaded much of the company's ventures, such as YouTube TV, YouTube Music, YouTube Premium, and YouTube Shorts. Upon Wojcicki's resignation in February 2023, he succeeded her as CEO of YouTube.

Early life

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Neal Mohan was born in Lafayette, Indiana on July 14, 1973. His parents, Aditya Mohan and Deepa Mohan were Indians from the city of Lucknow.[7] Aditya Mohan moved to the United States in the early 1970s to pursue a PhD in civil engineering. He was admitted to Purdue University.[8][2] Mohan grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[9] He moved to India in 1985, with his family, spending the next seven years completing high school at St. Francis' College, where he learned to speak Hindi and Sanskrit.[10][11] At some point between 1991 and 1992, Mohan moved back to the United States.[3][12] He attended Stanford University, graduating in 1996 with a degree in electrical engineering.[13][14]

Career

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Accenture and NetGravity

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After graduation, Mohan worked at Accenture, then owned by Arthur Andersen. In 1997, he joined a startup called NetGravity, becoming a key figure in the company's operations and greatly expanding its prominence.[14]

DoubleClick

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In 1997, NetGravity was acquired by DoubleClick. Mohan moved from California to the company's headquarters in New York. In the next several years, he gradually became more involved in central business affairs within the company, with DoubleClick relying on him for cutting costs in the wake of the burst of the dot-com bubble. He became the vice president of business operations.[14]

In 2003, he returned to Stanford to pursue his MBA. While he was at Stanford, DoubleClick began to face serious issues stemming from its acquisition from Abacus Direct in 1999. The merger was de facto annulled by Hellman & Friedman, who acquired DoubleClick and split off Abacus Direct from it. Hellman & Friedman requested that longtime executive David Rosenblatt become CEO of DoubleClick in the wake of the company's partition. Rosenblatt accepted this offer and also enlisted Mohan after he acquired his MBA in 2005, under Mohan's conditions that he would stay in California.[14]

Together, Rosenblatt and Mohan devised a plan to orient DoubleClick towards being a company vested upon advertising exchange, core ad technology situations, and an extensive ad network. This plan was outlined in a 400-slide PowerPoint presentation, said by those who created or have seen it to still have influence on current business plans by Google. The plan was presented to the board of DoubleClick and Hellman & Friedman in December 2005, who approved it.[14]

Google

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Mohan at the 2013 Tech Crunch Disrupt conference

On April 13, 2007, Google agreed to acquire DoubleClick for US$3.1 billion. Google executive Susan Wojcicki largely orchestrated this action. For the next 15 years, she worked extensively with Mohan, who formally joined Google in 2007, playing a key role in the integration process with DoubleClick.[15][16] While at Google, Mohan managed the company's 2010 US$85 million acquisition of Invite Media. Before moving to YouTube, he was senior vice president of display and video ads at Google.[16]

In 2011, Rosenblatt, who was now a board member of Twitter, attempted to hire Mohan as chief product officer. Though Mohan nearly accepted, Google paid him US$100 million to remain at the company. A former Facebook senior executive also stated that he attempted to hire Mohan while he was at Google.[14]

YouTube

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Mohan at Collision 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana

Mohan joined YouTube (a Google subsidiary) in 2015 as Chief Product Officer.[17][3] During his time at the company, he managed a number of its marquees throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s, including YouTube Music, YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, and YouTube Shorts.[18][19] Following September 2020, Mohan appeared before Congress and participated in a White House summit, during which he introduced a new content moderation policy for YouTube aimed at addressing violent extremist content on the platform. This policy expanded upon previous ones targeting groups such as ISIS, by prohibiting content that glorified violence or sought to recruit or fundraise for extremist organizations, regardless of whether the content was directly associated with a designated terrorist group. Concurrently, YouTube initiated a media literacy campaign to assist viewers, particularly younger ones, in recognizing manipulation techniques employed in the dissemination of misinformation.[16]

On February 16, 2023, Mohan was selected to succeed Susan Wojcicki as YouTube's CEO.[13]

Other ventures

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Mohan has also worked with Microsoft and sat on the boards of Stitch Fix and 23andMe.[3]

Personal life

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Mohan is married to Hema Sareen Mohan, who has worked in the non-profit and public welfare sectors for two decades.[20] He married his wife while in New York during his time working for DoubleClick.[14]

References

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  1. ^ Mohan, Neal. "I Confronted YouTubes 'Scary' New CEO" (Interview). Interviewed by Ludwig Ahgren. Event occurs at 20:22. Archived from the original on February 20, 2024. Retrieved February 20, 2024 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ a b c "Neal Mohan bio". YouTube for Press. March 28, 2023. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d "Who is Neal Mohan? An Indian-American to become CEO of YouTube". The Times of India. February 17, 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  4. ^ "Changing of the Guard: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Steps Down, Indian-American Neal Mohan Takes Over, New CEO of Youtube". RW Media World. February 18, 2023. Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  5. ^ "Youtube's new CEO Neal Mohan was a shy boy, recall his Lucknow schoolmates". The Times of India. February 23, 2023.
  6. ^ "'My father landed in US with $25 in pocket': YouTube CEO Neal Mohan shares childhood memories of India". November 2023.
  7. ^ https://youtube/sFG6FCV9bV0?si=eV1JOQJCX0PrF22L
  8. ^ "'He was a shy boy,' recall YouTube's new CEO Neal Mohan's Lucknow schoolmates". February 19, 2023.
  9. ^ "Neal Mohan, MBA '05, from CEOs to Content Creators: Be True to Yourself". July 30, 2024.
  10. ^ "Ex-YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki dies a year after stepping down. Who is the current CEO?".
  11. ^ Interviewing My Boss: YouTube's Chief Product Officer – NEAL!, July 23, 2020, archived from the original on April 4, 2023, retrieved March 29, 2023
  12. ^ "From Lucknow to USA: Indian-American Neal Mohan's journey to becoming YouTube CEO". businessinsider.in. Archived from the original on February 17, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  13. ^ a b "YouTube CEO Wojcicki, one of the first Google employees, steps down". Reuters. February 16, 2023. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Carlson, Nicholas. "Google Paid This Man $100 Million: Here's His Story". Business Insider. Archived from the original on October 27, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  15. ^ "A personal update from Susan". blog.youtube. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  16. ^ a b c Morris, Chris (February 16, 2023). "6 things to know about new YouTube chief Neal Mohan". Fast Company. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  17. ^ Roth, Emma (February 16, 2023). "YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki steps down after nine years at the helm". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  18. ^ McCracken, Harry (September 17, 2021). "After a year like no other, YouTube is previewing what's next". Fast Company. Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  19. ^ Marino, Andrew (February 10, 2022). "A chat with YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan on new features coming this year". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  20. ^ Bureau, ABP News (February 16, 2023). "All About Neal Mohan, The Next Indian-American CEO Of YouTube". news.abplive.com. Archived from the original on February 17, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2023. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
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