New Delhi: Over a decade ago, Google reportedly paid a staggering $100 million to Indian-American executive Neal Mohan to retain him and stop him from leaving the company to join Twitter, now called X. This detail surfaced during a recent episode of Nikhil Kamath’s podcast, hosted by the Zerodha co-founder, where they discussed the intense competition for top talent surrounding YouTube’s current CEO.
Back in 2011, Neal Mohan played a major role in shaping Google’s advertising and YouTube product strategies. During the episode, Kamath recalled, “I remember reading that Google offered you $100 million not to leave—this wasn’t recent, but like 15 years ago, which was a huge amount back then.” Interestingly, Mohan didn’t dispute the statement.
Inside Google’s $100 Million Move To Retain A Key Indian-American Leader
As reported by TechCrunch in 2011, Google’s massive $100 million offer to Neal Mohan came in the form of restricted stock units that would vest over time. David Rosenblatt, then a board member at Twitter, was actively trying to bring Mohan on as Chief Product Officer, but Google made a determined effort to prevent Mohan from jumping ship.
Neal Mohan, a Stanford-educated electrical engineer, kicked off his professional journey at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) before joining the startup NetGravity. After NetGravity was acquired by DoubleClick, Mohan steadily climbed the corporate ladder to become Vice President of Business Operations. When Google bought DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in 2007, he transitioned into a key leadership role in Google’s advertising division.
By 2011, Neal Mohan had become a key figure in Google’s product strategy, especially shaping YouTube’s future, prompting Google to offer him $100 million in stock to keep him from joining Twitter. Around the same time, Twitter also tried to recruit Sundar Pichai, leading Google to retain him with a $50 million stock grant. Today, both continue to lead in the tech world—Mohan became YouTube’s CEO in 2023, while Pichai has been CEO of Google since 2015 and of Alphabet since 2019.
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