The CEO of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki, is stepping down after nine years of leading the largest video platform in the world. She will be replaced by Neal Mohan, who has served as her lieutenant for some time.
For Google, which acquired the website in 2006, and Alphabet, the holding company that houses both of them, YouTube grew in importance to the company’s operations during her tenure: Almost 10% of Alphabet’s entire revenue ($29,2 billion) in 2022 came from YouTube’s ad revenues.
The resignation of Wojcicki also carries significant symbolism for Google and technology in general. She has long been one of the incredibly few women running a significant tech company. She also played a crucial role in the founding of Google; in 1998, she famously rented out her Silicon Valley garage to co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and a year later, she became the company’s 16th employee.
Wojcicki began her career at Google managing marketing. She later assisted in the development of the company’s online advertising division and oversaw its attempt to compete with YouTube by running its video service. In the end, she argued that Google ought to acquire the website.
She made it a priority to make YouTube more approachable to advertisers during her time in charge of the platform, all the while attempting to control the vast and unruly community of video producers that provided the site with its content.
Her successor, Mohan, and Wojcicki have collaborated closely for years. Since 2015, Mohan has been Wojcicki’s No. 2 on YouTube. The two of them first collaborated on developing Google’s display advertising business.
Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet, said in a statement that Susan had “created an amazing team and has in Neal a successor who is ready to jump in and lead YouTube through its next decade of success.”
Neal Mohan: Who is he?
Since 2015, Neal Mohan has been YouTube’s chief product officer. Previous to this, Mohan was employed by the dominant internet search company Google, which he had joined in 2008.
Neal Mohan, 49, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was a recipient of the Arjay Miller Scholarship, which is given to students in the top 10 percent of their class with the highest grade point averages (GPA).
He once received a job offer as Twitter’s Chief Product Officer, but Google spent about $100 million to keep him there, according to a 2013 Business Insider article. A former boss who worked with him also said that he was a “unique” combination of “an ‘insatiable techie’ but yet had the commercial sense” to engage with clients strategically.
Indian-born CEOs Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Shantanu Narayen of Adobe, and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet are among those in charge of other major global tech companies. Mohan is one of them. Indian-origin CEOs have recently led several venerable US corporations, like Raj Subramaniam, the CEO of Starbucks, and Laxman Narasimhan, who will take over the helm of the coffee company.
From 2008 until 2015, Mohan served as Google’s vice president of display and video advertising, overseeing the company’s advertising products on YouTube, the Google Display Network, AdSense, AdMob, and the DoubleClick ad tech products. Additionally, he created advertising- and media-partner solutions that aided in the development of the consumer internet, the ecosystem for mobile apps, and the online media sector.
“Working with Neal has taken up nearly 15 years of my professional life; we first met when DoubleClick was acquired by Google in 2007 and again as his position rose to become SVP of Display and Video Advertising. He was appointed Chief Product Officer of YouTube in 2015. Since then, he has established a top-notch product and UX team, played crucial roles in the launch of some of our biggest products, including YouTube TV, YouTube Music, Premium, and Shorts, and has led our Trust and Safety team, ensuring that YouTube lives up to its reputation for being a safe platform “In her letter, Wojcicki stated.
How did he get here?
Mohan, a Stanford alum, has experience working for Microsoft as a manager in corporate strategy. Mohan worked at DoubleClick before joining Google, an online advertising firm that Google bought in 2007.
The invention of numerous of Google’s advertising products, including AdWords, AdSense, and DoubleClick, has been credited to Mohan, who is known for his expertise in digital advertising and has also played a significant influence in its development.
Following the announcement, Mohan tweeted, “Thank you, @SusanWojcicki. Over the years, working with you has been incredible. You’ve transformed YouTube into a remarkable hub for users and artists. I’m eager to carry out this fantastic and crucial duty. I’m looking forward to what’s coming up.
