Following Susan Wojcicki’s resignation, Neal Mohan was promoted to CEO of YouTube. Here’s what you should know about the tech entrepreneur.
YouTube boss Neal Mohan became the new face of the video-sharing company over a year ago. Now he’s continuing without his mentor.
Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who joined Google in 1999 and stepped down in February 2023, died on Friday. Of Wojcicki, who served as an adviser after leaving the executive position, Mohan said in a post on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter: “Her legacy lives on in everything she touched at @google and @youtube.”
“I am forever grateful for her friendship and guidance,” Mohan continued. “I will miss her terribly. My heart goes out to her family and loved ones.”
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YouTube CEO Neal Mohan on “Embracing Change”
Mohan, who was born in Indiana but spent the second half of his childhood in India, spoke candidly about his career in the technology industry in an October 2023 interview at his alma mater, Stanford University.
He said that his father had a degree in information technology and wanted to do his PhD in the United States.
“He got accepted to Purdue University and was a civil engineer, so he wanted to do his PhD there,” Mohan said in the interview, which was posted on YouTube on October 30, 2023. “He landed at JFK with $25 in his pocket and asked the first person, the first friendly face he saw, for the fastest way to Lafayette, Indiana.”
When Mohan was in high school, his family moved back to India – an important decision that became a springboard for his later career.
“This concept of really embracing change has kind of been my guiding principle throughout my career,” he said. “But ultimately it’s really been about embracing those changes.”
“Some of my best friends in life I met in high school in India. I had to learn Hindi and Sanskrit for nine years,” Mohan said. “And it’s really not just about surviving, it’s about getting through these kinds of game-changing, defining moments.”
In 1996, Mohan graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. In 2003, he decided to return to the university to pursue a Master of Business Administration in General Management, according to his LinkedIn page.
Former YouTube CEO: Susan Wojcicki dies of lung cancer at the age of 56
Neal Mohan’s career at YouTube began before he became CEO
Mohan, who joined Google as part of the DoubleClick acquisition in 2007, said as senior vice president of display and video advertising, he often worked with the founders and team at YouTube.
Together, they would develop strategies to drive search and non-search advertising on the platforms, Mohan said. The time behind the scenes helped him prepare for his current role, he said.
“I’ve been at YouTube for a very long time, so I know our products and our ecosystem very well,” Mohan said. “But a lot of the work is different, in the sense that I’m obviously kind of the face of the company now.”
Mohan, who became YouTube’s chief product officer in 2015, was promoted to the company’s CEO after Susan Wojcicki stepped down in 2023 to, as she said, “focus on my family, my health and personal projects that are important to me.”
“I spend a lot of time with our developers,” Mohan said. “It’s really about making sure that this ecosystem that we’re building with 2 billion users, tens of millions of developers, all of our partners and our advertisers works, and it’s my job to really be the steward of that.”
Susan Wojcicki dies of lung cancer and loses her son months before her death
Mohan succeeded technology and business manager Wojcicki as YouTube CEO. She died on Friday at the age of 56.
Wojcicki joined Google in 1999 and became one of the company’s first employees, several years before the acquisition of YouTube.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Wojcicki’s husband Dennis Troper announced the news: Wojcicki has lost his battle against lung cancer.
“It is with deep sadness that I share the news of the passing of Susan Wojcicki,” he wrote. “My beloved wife of 26 years and mother of our five children left us today after two years of battling non-small cell lung cancer.”
Wojcicki leaves behind her husband and four children. One son, Marco Troper, died earlier this year.
“Susan was not only my best friend and partner, but she was a brilliant mind, a loving mother and a dear friend to many. Her impact on our family and the world was immeasurable,” Troper wrote. “We are heartbroken but grateful for the time we had with her. Please keep our family in mind as we go through this difficult time.”
Just a few months ago, in February, Susan Wojcicki and Dennis Troper lost their 19-year-old son Marco to an accidental overdose, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on USA TODAY’s National Trending Team. Ahjané covers breaking news, auto recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy. Email her at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram, Threads and X (Twitter) @forbesfineest.
