Who is Neal Mohan? The new Indian-American CEO of YouTube

Neal Mohan is a well-known figure in the tech industry and was the Chief Product Officer at YouTube before becoming the CEO on Thursday. He has been instrumental in shaping the platform's growth and success since joining the company. Before that, he worked at Google as Senior Vice President, Display and Video Ads, where he played a significant role in developing AdSense and DoubleClick, two of the company's most successful products.

Mohan earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from Stanford University in 1996 where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar (top 10 per cent of students in terms of GPA). He later got an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2005.

Mohan's work journey began with Accenture (then called Andersen Consulting) in 1996. He later joined a startup called NetGravity which was later acquired by Internet advertising firm DoubleClick. DoubleClick was acquired by Google in 2007 for US$3.1 billion.

He quickly rose through the ranks at Google. Mohan played a pivotal role in the development of AdSense, a program that enables website owners to display Google ads and earn revenue based on clicks or impressions. AdSense is now one of the most successful advertising platforms in the world.

According to a Business Insider report, Mohan was offered a lucrative position at Twitter for his product expertise but Google offered him over $100 million in bonus around the time to keep him at the company.

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Mohan moved to the YouTube team in 2015. At the time, YouTube was facing stiff competition from other video-sharing platforms, and it needed to find ways to attract more users and generate more revenue. Mohan quickly set to work, and over the years, he has overseen several major initiatives that have helped YouTube grow into the behemoth it is today.

Under Mohan's leadership, YouTube has launched a number of successful products and features, including YouTube Music, YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, and YouTube Shorts. He has also helped YouTube improve its recommendation algorithms, which are now responsible for driving majority of the platform's watch time.

One of Mohan's most significant contributions to YouTube has been his focus on creator monetization. He has worked to develop new revenue streams for creators, such as Super Chat, Super Stickers, and channel memberships. He has also helped creators get more value out of their content by improving ad targeting and providing them with better analytics.

Mohan is known for his ability to bring people together and collaborate across teams. He has a talent for spotting trends and identifying new opportunities, and he's not afraid to take risks. His leadership has helped YouTube stay ahead of its competitors and continue to grow.

Mohan currently sits on the boards of personal styling service Stich Fix and gene testing firm 23andMe.

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