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Neal Mohan

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Neal Mohan
Mohan in 2026
Born (1973-07-14) July 14, 1973 (age 53)
Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.
EducationStanford University (BS, MBA)
OccupationBusiness executive
TitleAt YouTube:
CEO (2023–present)
CPO (2015–2023)
PredecessorSusan Wojcicki (CEO)
Shishir Mehrotra (CPO)
SuccessorJohanna Voolich (CPO)
Board member of
Neal Mohan's voice
On who the next big creator on YouTube will be
Recorded September 2026
Signature

Neal Mohan (born July 14, 1973[1][2]) is an American business executive and chief executive officer (CEO) of the social media and online video sharing platform YouTube.[3][4]

Before joining Google in 2007, when the company acquired DoubleClick, Mohan held roles at Accenture, NetGravity and DoubleClick. At Google, he was the senior vice president of display and video advertisements, and oversaw Google's expansion into display advertising.[5] In 2015, Mohan moved to YouTube as the chief product officer (CPO). During the late 2010s and early 2020s, he advocated for the development of products such as YouTube TV, YouTube Music, YouTube Premium and YouTube Shorts. In February 2023, Mohan succeeded Susan Wojcicki as CEO of YouTube, following Wojcicki's resignation from that post.

In December 2025, Mohan was named Time CEO of the Year.[6]

Early life

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] and 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 returned to the US and attended Stanford University, graduating in 1996 with a degree in electrical engineering[13][14] and in 2005 an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.[15][16]

Career

Accenture and NetGravity

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

DoubleClick

In 1997, after NetGravity was acquired by DoubleClick, Mohan moved from California to the company's headquarters in New York, and gradually became more involved in central business affairs within the company. DoubleClick relied on Mohan for cost-cutting following the collapse of the dot-com bubble. He became the vice president of business operations.[14]

In 2003, Mohan returned to Stanford to study for an MBA. While he was at Stanford, DoubleClick began to experience issues stemming from its acquisition of Abacus Direct in 1999. The merger was de facto annulled by Hellman & Friedman, which acquired DoubleClick and split off Abacus Direct from it. Hellman & Friedman requested longtime executive David Rosenblatt become CEO of DoubleClick following the company's partition. Rosenblatt accepted this offer and engaged Mohan after he acquired his MBA in 2005, under Mohan's condition he would stay in California.[14]

Rosenblatt and Mohan devised a plan to move DoubleClick toward advertising exchange, advertising technology, and an advertising network. The plan was presented in December 2005 to the boards of DoubleClick and Hellman & Friedman, which approved it.[14]

Google

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. Wojcicki worked with Mohan, who joined Google in 2007 and worked on the integration of DoubleClick into Google.[17][18] Mohan managed Google's 2010, US$85 million acquisition of Invite Media. He was Google's senior vice president of display and video advertisements,[18] and oversaw Google's expansion into display advertising.[5]

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

YouTube

Mohan at Collision 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana

In 2015, Mohan joined YouTube, a Google subsidiary, as chief product officer (CPO).[19][3] He managed a number of its marquees, including YouTube Music, YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, and YouTube Shorts.[20][21]

Following September 2020, Mohan appeared before the United States Congress and participated in a White House summit, during which he introduced a new content moderation policy to address violent extremist content on the platform.[18] On February 16, 2023, Mohan was selected to succeed Susan Wojcicki as YouTube's CEO.[13]

Other ventures

Mohan has also worked at Microsoft, and sat on the boards of Stitch Fix and 23andMe.[3] He resigned from the Stitch Fix board in December 2023,[22] and from the 23andMe board in September 2024.[23] As of 2026, Mohan sits on the board of directors of Starbucks and the board of trustees of Paley Center for Media.[24] He also serves on the Advisory Council of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[25]

Awards and recognition

In 2023, for his role as CEO of YouTube, Gold House selected Mohan as an A1 honoree in business and technology on its A100 list.[26][27] He was included in Fortune's 100 Most Powerful People in Business, placing 69th and 83rd in 2024 and 2025, respectively.[28][29]

In 2025, Mohan was named Time CEO of the Year,[30] "Global Indian of the Year" by The Economic Times,[31] and was ranked fourth on Variety’s list of 120 Most Powerful Executives in Entertainment.[32]

In December 2025, Mohan was named Time CEO of the Year for 2025.[6] He was included in the Time 100 list of most-influential people for 2026.[33] In May 2026, Mohan was presented with a TAAF Award by The Asian American Foundation for being an Asian American leader in the entertainment and technology industries.[34]

References

  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. 1 2 "Neal Mohan bio". YouTube for Press. March 28, 2023. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "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. 1 2 "Google predicts surge in online display advertising". www.ft.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2021. Retrieved September 9, 2026.
  6. 1 2 Maas, Jennifer (December 8, 2025). "YouTube's Neal Mohan Named Time CEO of the Year". Variety. Retrieved February 12, 2026.
  7. ↑ VidCon (July 17, 2019). Neal Mohan Speaks at YouTube Keynote VidCon 2019. YouTube. Retrieved May 19, 2025. My dad was born in Lucknow, a city in Northern India
  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. 1 2 "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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 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. ↑ "Neal Mohan, MBA '05, From CEOs to Content Creators: Be True To Yourself". Stanford Graduate School of Business. June 30, 2022. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
  16. ↑ "YouTube CEO and Stanford president on the future of education". November 20, 2024. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
  17. ↑ "A personal update from Susan". blog.youtube. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  18. 1 2 3 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.
  19. ↑ 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.
  20. ↑ 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.
  21. ↑ 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.
  22. ↑ "FORM 8-K Current Report December 2023 Stitch Fix, Inc". SEC.gov. United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
  23. ↑ Leuty, Ron (September 17, 2024). "23andMe directors resign: 'We differ on the strategic direction'". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Who is Neal Mohan: Indian-origin YouTube CEO crowned CEO of the Year". The Times of India. December 17, 2025. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
  25. ↑ Singh, Rimjhim (May 29, 2025). "Inside Google's $100 mn gamble to retain YouTube CEO Neal Mohan in 2011". Business Standard. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
  26. ↑ "2023 A100 List". Gold House. Retrieved February 27, 2026.
  27. ↑ Ford, Rebecca (May 7, 2023). "The Glittery Gold Gala Celebrates a Momentous Year in Asian Representation". Vanity Fair. Retrieved May 5, 2026.
  28. ↑ "Mukesh Ambani only Indian on Fortune's list of 100 Most Powerful People in Business; six Indian origins make the cut". The Economic Times (India). November 13, 2024. Retrieved February 27, 2026.
  29. ↑ "100 Most Powerful People in Business: Neal Mohan". Fortune. Retrieved February 27, 2026.
  30. ↑ Luscombe, Belinda (December 8, 2025). "Neal Mohan Is TIME's 2025 CEO of the Year". Time. Retrieved April 5, 2026.
  31. ↑ "ET Awards 2025: Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube, is Global Indian of the Year". The Economic Times (India). December 18, 2025. Retrieved February 27, 2026.
  32. ↑ "The 120 Most Powerful Executives in Entertainment, Ranked". Variety. December 23, 2025. Retrieved February 27, 2026.
  33. ↑ "The 100 Most Influential People of 2026: Neal Mohan". Time. April 15, 2026. Retrieved May 4, 2026.
  34. ↑ "AAPI Trailblazers Honored at TAAF's Heritage Month Awards Dinner". TAAF.org. The Asian American Foundation. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
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