Ajit Mohan to lead Snap's expansion in Asia Pacific: CEO Evan Spiegel

Ajit Mohan

Ajit Mohan, Meta's former vice president and India managing director, is joining Snapchat parent Snap as its president for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, the company's chief executive Evan Spiegel said in an internal memo to employees.

In this role, Mohan will lead the company's business in India, Australia and New Zealand, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea markets.

This hire is part of Snap's recent realignment in its regional leadership wherein it created a new president role in Americas, EMEA and APAC regions.

"Ajit will provide in-market leadership, lead cross-functional efforts across the region, oversee local operations, and lead our go-to-market strategy. He's a talented leader with a breadth of experience that will serve our community and partners in wonderful ways," Spiegel said.

Mohan will also join the company's executive team and report to Snap chief operating officer Jerry Hunter. Similar to Snap's structure in US and EMEA markets, Snap's regional APAC sales teams will report to him. This includes Snap's APAC general manager Kathryn Carter (KC) and her current APAC sales teams, as well as the India and China sales teams.

"Ajit’s leadership will help enable us to accelerate our growth across APAC and we could not be more thrilled to have Ajit joining the Snap team. Please join me in welcoming Ajit to Snap," Spiegel said.

Earlier today, Moneycontrol reported that Mohan has quit Facebook parent Meta after a nearly four-year stint. The exit was sudden and the employees are still in a state of shock, sources said.

This is a crucial hire for Snap as the social media firm looks to ramp up its operations in the Asia Pacific region, a potential key growth market since it accounts for more than 75 percent of over 13-year-old smartphone users who do not use Snapchat yet. The app's primary audience are smartphone users in the age group of 13-34.

India has been a particular user growth area for the company with over 100 million monthly active users. Spiegel has previously said that they are making use of learnings from the company's expansion efforts in the country to drive community growth in new geographies.

This hire comes against the backdrop of a broader restructuring at Snap as the company's revenue growth continues to be impacted by the sharp advertising slowdown due to the deteriorating economy and Apple's recent privacy changes in its iOS operating system.

This move resulted in the company laying off about 20 percent of its workforce and scrapping several projects such as Snap Originals, Minis, Games, and Pixy besides winding down standalone apps Zenly and Voisey.

In a memo sent to employees on August 31, Spiegel said they will increase focus on three key areas including community growth, revenue growth, and augmented reality as part of this restructuring.