TIME magazine has named Neal Mohan, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of YouTube, as the CEO of the year 2025. “…YouTube is creating the cultural diet that the globe is beginning to subsist on. Mohan is the farmer; what he cultivates will be what we eat,” TIME said.
His father came to US with $25
According to TIME magazine, Mohan’s father came to the United States in the 1960s to pursue a PhD as a civil engineer. “My dad came here to do his PhD at Purdue as a civil engineer back in the ’60s with, you know, 25 bucks in his pocket,” Mohan was quoted by TIME as saying.
He added, “Over and over, he leaned into change.”
Although Mohan’s father came to the US with just a few bucks in his pocket, he worked diligently and built a comfortable fortune. Mohan’s salary and net worth remain undisclosed publicly. It is reportedly estimated that his net worth is over USD 150 million.
During a podcast, Nikhil Kamath remarked, “I remember reading this thing about Google offering you $100 million not to quit. Not today, but 15 years ago, which was a lot of money.” Mohan did not deny this claim.
Who is Neal Mohan?
Mohan was born in Indiana to Aditya and Deepa Mohan and spent his early years in Michigan before his family relocated to Lucknow in 1985, when he was 12. The sudden move meant leaving behind the friends and familiarity of his childhood in the US. “I was upset at losing my friends,” he told TIME.
Adapting to life in North India required more than just settling into a new home. Though he already understood Hindi, becoming fluent enough to speak and read like a native within a single summer was a demanding challenge. Alongside that, he was introduced to Sanskrit. “It’s incredibly phonetic and rules-oriented. It was like learning computer programming, basically,” he added.
All three Mohan brothers returned to the US for higher education. Neal holds a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Electrical Engineering from Standard University, and an MBA in General Management from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
His brother, Anuj, died after a swimming pool accident at 30. It, per the outlet, “destroyed the foundation on which Mohan based his understanding of the world”. The tragic death of his brother remains one of the most defining and difficult chapters of his story.
How a career built across tech giants led Neal Mohan to YouTube’s top office
Neal Mohan is the CEO of YouTube. He succeeded Susan Wojcicki in 2023. Mohan started his career in 1996 as a Senior Analyst at Accenture before joining DoubleClick Inc. in 1997 as Director of Global Client Services. In 2001, he was promoted and became the Vice President of Business Operations – a role he continued in until 2003.
In 2004, he interned with Microsoft as a manager of Corporate Strategy after which he returned to DoubleClick Inc again as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Product Management.
He served on the Board of Directors of MMA Global from 2012 to 2015. In 2008, he joined Google as Senior Vice President of Display and Video Ads. From 2012 to 2016, he was also a member of the Board of Directors for the IAB.
From 2013 to 2017, he sat on the management board of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He later served on the boards of Stitch Fix (October 2020–December 2023) and 23andMe (2017–2024).
Since February 2022, he has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2023, he became an Advisory Council member at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
He joined the Board of Trustees of the Paley Center for Media in November 2023, and in January 2024 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Starbucks.
In 2015, he joined YouTube as its Chief Product Officer and was promoted to CEO in 2023 following the departure of then executive.
He is married to Hema Sareen Mohan.