After long-time CEO Susan Wojcicki stepped down on, YouTube will be led by Neal Mohan. Google, YouTube’s parent company, got its start in Wojcicki’s garage.
Her departure comes at a time when there is a lot of excitement — and a lot of concern — about the role of AI chatbots like ChatGPT (now integrated with rival Microsoft’s Bing Search) in changing how people search for information online. YouTube is also facing stiff competition from short-duration videos such as TikTok and Instagram Reels.
“It’s been amazing to work with you over the years,” Mohan said on Twitter, addressing Wojcicki. You’ve transformed YouTube into a fantastic home for both creators and viewers. I’m excited to continue this amazing and vital mission. “I’m looking forward to what comes next.”
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 company. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank 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 Business for an MBA in the early 2000s.
He worked for DoubleClick, an internet advertising company, for many years. With Google’s acquisition in 2007, he became a part of the tech behemoth, eventually rising to the position of senior vice president of Display and Video Ads. “He has a fantastic understanding of our product, our business, our creator and user communities, and our employees. “Neal will be an excellent leader for YouTube,” said Wojcicki.
Since becoming chief product officer in 2015, Mohan has overseen and launched YouTube’s other major products, according to Fast Company.
“The best analogy for me is really just thinking about YouTube as a stage,” he told Fast Company last year. Viewers require “the best possible views of the creators they’re most excited about.”
According to a 2013 Business Insider report, he was once offered the position of Chief Product Officer at Twitter, but Google spent nearly $100 million to keep him. A former boss also described him as a “rare” combination, “an ‘insatiable technologist’ with enough business savvy” to interact with customers on a strategic level.
Mohan, who is of Indian origin, joins the ranks of other global tech titans such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Indian-origin CEOs have recently led other iconic US companies, including Laxman Narasimhan, who is set to take over as CEO of coffee chain Starbucks, and Raj Subramaniam, CEO of FedEx, one of the world’s largest transportation services companies.
