BENGALURU: Meta India head Ajit Mohan has quit the company to join rival Snap. He will lead the Asia Pacific region for Snap, and will also be a part of the company's executive team.
"After almost four years leading Meta (Facebook) in India, I am stepping down from my role. I am grateful to the company for the amazing opportunity to lead its efforts in one of its most important countries," he said in a LinkedIn post.
"When I took on this role, my objective was to build a team and a company that would be a valuable ally to India and play a useful role in fuelling its economic and social transformation. This is exactly what we have managed to do in the last four years," he added.
Mohan has confirmed in the post that he is joining Snap.
In an email to The New Indian Express, Snap said, "Ajit Mohan is joining us from Meta where he most recently served as VP and Managing Director of India, and previously held executive roles across the region, including as founding CEO of Disney’s Hotstar.
"As President of APAC, Ajit will lead India, Australia and New Zealand, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea businesses. He will provide in-market leadership, lead cross-functional efforts across the region, oversee local operations, and lead go-to-market strategy. He will report to Jerry Hunter, COO."
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Evan Spiegel, CEO, Snap Inc said, "We believe that Ajit’s leadership will enable us to accelerate our growth across APAC, and we could not be more thrilled to have Ajit joining the Snap team."
Snapchat has grown fast in India, hitting 100 million monthly active users one year ago, with partnerships with local platforms such as Flipkart and Zomato.
Mohan's move also comes at a time when there is an ongoing controversy between the company and a news website over the removal of certain Instagram posts. Meta has been growing significantly in India and recently it reported a 74% increase in gross advertising revenues in the country.
Meanwhile, Nicola Mendelsohn, VP, Global Business Group, Meta in a statement said, "We remain deeply committed to India and have a strong leadership team in place to carry on all our work and partnerships."