According to those close to the situation, Meta (previously Facebook) India country head Ajit Mohan resigned with immediate effect on November 3. Company has confirmed this exit to sources.
According to a source familiar with the situation, Mohan has joined rival Snap. We have contacted Snap Inc for confirmation and will provide an update whenever we receive a response. Mohan announced his resignation via an internal portal, and a meeting set for today was canceled, according to persons familiar with the situation. According to insiders, the exit was unexpected and the employees are in shock.
On an interim basis, Manish Chopra, Director, and Head of Partnerships for Facebook India (Meta) will oversee the company. Ajit Mohan joined Meta in January 2019 as the managing director for the India market, succeeding Umang Bedi, who left in October 2017.
Meta has made a number of investments in India’s internet ecosystem during his leadership, including a $5.7 billion investment in Jio Platforms, Reliance Industries’ digital unit, and startups such as Meesho.
With over a billion monthly users, India is the most important market for Meta’s family of applications, which includes Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The country is also an important area for Meta’s apps to test some of its features and creative tools before a wider deployment into other markets, as the business sees increasing usage and engagement levels for its products. In July 2020, India was one of the first markets to receive TikTok competitor Reels on Instagram.
However, Meta has received harsh criticism and scrutiny for its content moderation policies, as well as charges of not acting on hate speech posts by leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while BJP politicians have accused the platform of stifling nationalistic content.
During Mohan’s tenure, the company’s revenue increased about 2.6x, from Rs 892 crore in FY19 to Rs 2,309 crore in FY22. Profit has more than quadrupled, rising from Rs 65 crore in FY19 to Rs 297 crore in FY22.
Mohan was the CEO of Star India streaming business Hotstar for four years before joining Meta. He was instrumental in the establishment of the streaming service and its rise to the top of the country’s booming video streaming market.
Mohan has also held senior and executive vice president positions in Star India’s television division. He worked at McKinsey and Arthur D Little before joining Star India.
Mohan is also the vice chairman of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), an industry association that represents the biggest domestic and multinational internet companies and digital platforms in India.
Meta Platforms, Inc., doing business as Meta, is an international technical corporation headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are some of its other goods and services. Meta is one of the world’s most valuable corporations. It is considered one of the Big Five American information technology businesses, with Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft.
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