MUMBAI: Facebook has announced the appointment of Hotstar chief executive Ajit Mohan as managing director and vice-president, Facebook India.
This will be a first for Facebook of “having a senior leader reporting into Menlo Park and not Asia Pacific”, the social media giant said in a press statement.
Mohan will join Facebook early next year and will be responsible for Facebook’s India strategy and for driving the company’s continued investment in India.
He will lead a senior leadership team in India that will strengthen Facebook’s relationships with people, businesses, and government and “intensify the company’s efforts to help people in India connect with the people and things they care about most”.
“India is one of the largest and most strategically important countries for Facebook. As we think about what it will take to achieve our mission of bringing people together and building community, we know that investment in India is critical. Ajit’s depth of experience will help us to continue to have a positive impact in India across communities, organizations, businesses and with policy makers,” said David Fischer, vice-president of Business and Marketing Partnerships, Facebook Inc.
“I am delighted to take on the mantle of shaping Facebook’s charter in India. It is a unique opportunity to shape the agenda of a company that has brought the world closer together in one of the most exciting markets in the world. I look forward to championing India in Facebook and working with stakeholders across the spectrum to help build deep and meaningful communities across the country,” said Mohan.
As the leader of Star’s digital business, Mohan launched and built Hotstar, where he was CEO, and which still remains one of the few streaming services in the world that bring together new local and international TV shows, movie premieres and live sports all on the same platform.
Mohan is an alumni of McKinsey and Company’s New York office. He is a graduate of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an India board member of the Mobile Marketing Association and the chairman of IAMAI’s Entertainment sub committee.
Between 2008 and 2010, he spent two years as a Fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute creating a road-map for urban transformation in India, co-authoring ‘India’s Urban Awakening: Building Inclusive Cities, Sustaining Economic Growth’, still cited as the most credible study on how India can create a new cycle of matching rapid growth with renewal of its cities.
