The visionary leader of the world’s largest video platform, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, has been crowned TIME Magazine’s 2025 CEO of the Year. The prestigious award recognizes the Indian-American executive’s calm and methodical leadership since he took the helm in 2023. TIME described Mohan as a definitive “culture shaper,” whose work is molding the daily content diet for billions of users worldwide.
Mohan earned the distinction by successfully navigating major industry shifts throughout 2025. Under his guidance, YouTube significantly cemented its place in the living room, with over half of all viewership now occurring on a television screen. Furthermore, the platform successfully expanded its dominance in the short-form video market, with YouTube Shorts reporting 2 billion logged-in monthly users.
TIME magazine profiled the executive, noting his dedication to running the platform and his surprising demeanor, describing the pilot of the “world’s most powerful distraction machine” as “surprisingly mellow.” Mohan emphasizes his guiding principle is to “give everyone a voice,” a foundational value driving content policies and moderation on the sprawling platform.
The recognition highlights how foundational the platform has become to global consumption, which TIME characterized by stating, “Mohan is the farmer; what he cultivates will be what we eat.” This honor confirms the transformative impact of YouTube CEO Neal Mohan on both the technology and media industries entering the new year.
