Ajit Mohan will join rival social media company Snap.
New Delhi:
Social media company Meta today announced that its India head Ajit Mohan has stepped down to seek another opportunity. Mr. Mohan is joining rival social media platform Snap, the company announced today.
“Ajit has decided to step down from his role at Meta to pursue another opportunity outside the company,” Nikola Mendelssohn, Vice President of Global Business Group at Meta, said in a statement.
Ajit Mohan joined Facebook India in January 2019 as Managing Director. During its stay, the company’s two offerings – WhatsApp and Instagram – added more than 200 million users in India.
“Over the past four years, they have been instrumental in shaping and growing our India operations so that they can serve the many millions of Indian businesses, partners and people. We are deeply committed to India and a vision to grow. Strong leadership team. On all our work and partnerships. We are grateful for Ajit’s leadership and contributions and wish him the very best for the future,” wrote Ms. Mendelsohn.
Prior to Meta, Mr. Mohan served as the Chief Executive Officer of Star India’s video streaming service Hotstar for four years. He was instrumental in convincing the entertainment giant to develop a streaming service called Hotstar. Mr. Mohan, along with Uday Shankar, was instrumental in Hotstar’s content strategy, which focused on streaming sports, along with local movies and series. Hotstar became a crown jewel in Disney’s portfolio following its acquisition of Fox, thanks to its timely bets on internet streaming and cricket.
Snap, the owner of social media platform Snapchat, said in response to an email query by news agency PTI that Mohan will join the company in February as the president of the Asia Pacific region.
“I am pleased to report that Ajit Mohan will be joining Snap as our new President, APAC, joining us in February. Ajit hails from Meta, where he recently served as VP and Managing Director of India. previously held executive roles across the region, as the founding CEO of Disney’s Hotstar,” said Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.
Snap has stepped up its efforts in India in recent years with the goal of introducing a number of customized features. According to data from Data.ai and SensorTower, the app has doubled its user base in the country to 100 million users in the last three years.
Ajit Mohan will be a member of Snap’s executive team and will report to its Chief Operating Officer, Jerry Hunter. Regional sales teams including India and China will report to Mr. Mohan.