- Thursday, July 17, 2025
In a stunning revelation, it was disclosed that Google paid Neal Mohan $100 million in 2011 to prevent him from joining Twitter, reflecting the intense competition among tech giants for top talent.
By: Vibhuti Pathak
In a resurfaced tech industry revelation, it has come to light that Google once paid Indian-American executive Neal Mohan a staggering $100 million to prevent him from jumping ship to Twitter. The incident, dating back to 2011, was brought back into public attention during a recent episode of Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s podcast, highlighting the fierce talent war among Silicon Valley giants during that era.
Neal Mohan, who now serves as the CEO of YouTube, was then a critical figure in Google’s advertising and YouTube product strategy. Kamath, in conversation with Mohan, remarked, “I remember reading this thing about Google offering you $100 million not to quit. Not today, but 15 years ago, which was a lot of money.” Notably, Mohan did not refute the statement, reigniting interest in one of the tech world’s most aggressive retention deals.
The $100 million offer, according to a 2011 TechCrunch report, came in the form of restricted stock units, designed to vest over several years. It was a strategic move by Google to retain Mohan after learning that Twitter—now known as X—was attempting to recruit him as Chief Product Officer. The recruitment push reportedly came from David Rosenblatt, Mohan’s former boss at DoubleClick and then a board member at Twitter.
Neal Mohan’s career trajectory has been as impressive as it is influential. After earning a degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University, he began his professional journey at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) before moving on to NetGravity. The latter was acquired by DoubleClick, where Mohan rose to become Vice President of Business Operations. When Google acquired DoubleClick in 2007 for $3.1 billion, Mohan transitioned seamlessly into a pivotal role within Google’s advertising empire.
By 2011, he had already cemented his status as a major force behind Google’s evolving product ecosystem, particularly its YouTube strategy. Google’s lucrative counter-offer to Mohan not only kept him from moving to a competitor but also set a precedent in corporate retention packages.
Interestingly, Mohan wasn’t the only Google executive Twitter was eyeing at the time. The social media platform also attempted to lure Sundar Pichai, then leading Chrome and Chrome OS. Google, recognizing the risk of losing another key player, reportedly responded with a $50 million stock offer to retain Pichai. Both men went on to scale even greater heights—Pichai became CEO of Google in 2015 and later of Alphabet Inc in 2019, while Mohan succeeded Susan Wojcicki as CEO of YouTube in 2023.
The revelation underscores the aggressive lengths to which major tech companies go to retain top talent—particularly individuals like Neal Mohan, whose vision and leadership have helped shape the digital landscape for over a decade.
