Indian-American CEO of YouTube, Neal Mohan, has been named the 2025 CEO of the Year by TIME magazine. “In many ways, 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 in its profile of Mohan.
“YouTube provides the soil, and everyone comes and plants whatever nourishing or noxious plants they care to. As the garden takes over more of the planet, even threatening some old-growth forests, whatever grows there becomes what everyone consumes, because it’s what’s available, and often what’s free,” it said.
The magazine also noted that the CEO of the “world’s most powerful distraction” is “surprisingly mellow.” The 52-year-old executive likes to describe what he and his colleagues do as building the world’s best stage for people to perform on.
Who Is Neal Mohan?
Neil Mohan was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1973. His Tamil parents moved to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, in the mid-1980s, where he grew up, learned Hindi, and studied Sanskrit. He later said the rule-based structure of Sanskrit reminded him of computer programming. Mohan and his two brothers eventually returned to the United States for higher studies. He completed his undergraduate degree and MBA from Stanford University. His brother Anuj passed away in a swimming pool accident at the age of 30.
Neil Mohan’s career?
Mohan started his career as a consultant. Later, he joined the digital advertising startup NetGravity, which was later acquired by DoubleClick. He stayed with DoubleClick and played a key role in its $3.1 billion acquisition by Google in 2007. He later considered moving to Twitter but chose to remain at Google after receiving a retention offer.
YouTube CEO Neil Mohan’s net worth?
While exact figures vary, YouTube CEO Neil Mohan’s net worth is estimated to be around $50 million, primarily from his long career at Google/Alphabet and YouTube. Here, he managed key products like YouTube Music, Premium, and Shorts before becoming CEO in 2023.
