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Who is Neal Mohan? YouTube’s Indian-origin CEO named TIME’s CEO of the Year 2025

The magazine also said that the CEO of the "world's most powerful distraction" is "surprisingly mellow".

Updated on: Dec 09, 2025 5:53 AM IST
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YouTube's Indian-origin Chief Executive Officer Neal Mohan is now the 2025 CEO of the Year by TIME magazine.

Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube, arrives at The Sun Valley Resort for the Allen and Company Sun Valley Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, US. (REUTERS)
Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube, arrives at The Sun Valley Resort for the Allen and Company Sun Valley Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, US. (REUTERS)

“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 said that the CEO of the "world's most powerful distraction" is "surprisingly mellow".

Also Read | YouTube CEO recalls moving to Lucknow in Class 7 after childhood in US: ‘I sounded funny’

"He's quiet-spoken, deliberative, hard to ruffle. He likes watching sports, going to his daughters' dance recitals, and open white shirts, just normal stuff... If you ask him to be in your YouTube video, he'll probably do it. He won't be great in it, but neither will he be horrible,” it said.

TIME said Mohan is focused on one thing, running YouTube.

"The entire dynamics of the entire media industry are changing before our eyes... It's incredibly disruptive, and if you don't adapt, you can be left by the wayside,” Mohan has said.

"The fundamental North Star of how I think about content policies and moderation in general on YouTube is to give everyone a voice," he said.

Mohan, became the CEO of YouTube in 2023 and he succeeded Susan Wojcicki.

The executive was born in Indiana, US and spent most of his childhood in the US before he moved to Lucknow with his parents in 1985. He was 12 at the time.

He also spoke of learning Sanskrit and said, "It’s incredibly phonetic and rules-oriented... It was like learning computer programming, basically.”

TIME said one of Mohan's key values is making people get heard.

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