Jerry Yang facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jerry Yang
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| 楊致遠 | |||||||||||
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Yang in 2010
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| Born |
Yang Chih-Yuan
November 6, 1968 |
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| Education | Stanford University (BS, MS) | ||||||||||
| Occupation | Founding Partner, AME Cloud Ventures | ||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Akiko Yamazaki | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 楊致遠 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 杨致远 | ||||||||||
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Jerry Chih-Yuan Yang (Chinese: 楊致遠; pinyin: Yáng Zhìyuǎn; born Yang Chih-Yuan on November 6, 1968) is an American businessman. He was born in Taiwan. Jerry is famous for co-founding Yahoo! Inc., a very popular internet company. He also started a company called AME Cloud Ventures, which invests in new tech businesses. As of 2024, Jerry Yang is a billionaire.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Jerry Yang was born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1968. His father passed away when Jerry was two years old. His mother was a professor. In 1978, his family moved to San Jose, California, in the United States.
When Jerry first arrived in America, he only knew one English word: "shoe." But he learned to speak English very well in about three years! He went to school in San Jose. Later, he studied at Stanford University. He earned two degrees in electrical engineering in just four years. At Stanford, he met David Filo, who would become his business partner.
Career Highlights
Jerry Yang started Yahoo! in 1994. He was the CEO of Yahoo! from 2007 to 2009. He left the company in 2012. After Yahoo!, he started a company called AME Cloud Ventures. This company helps new technology businesses grow. Many people in the tech world see Jerry Yang as a very important person who helped shape the internet.
Starting Yahoo!
In 1994, while still at Stanford, Jerry Yang and David Filo created a website. They called it "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web." It was a simple list of other websites. As it became very popular, they changed its name to "Yahoo! Inc.."
By the fall of 1994, Yahoo! had about 100,000 different visitors. In 1995, Yahoo! received a big investment of $2 million. The company went public in April 1996. This means its shares could be bought and sold on the stock market.
Investing in Alibaba
Jerry Yang met Alibaba's founder, Jack Ma, in China in 1997. Jack Ma was a tour guide at the time. They became friends and talked about how the internet was growing. Jack Ma later started Alibaba, which is now a huge online shopping company.
In 2005, Yahoo! bought a large part of Alibaba for $1 billion. This was a very smart move! Years later, in 2012, Yahoo! sold some of its shares in Alibaba for $7.6 billion. They made even more money, $9.4 billion, when Alibaba first offered its shares to the public in 2014. Many experts say this was one of the best investments an American company ever made in China.
Microsoft's Offer
In 2008, a big company called Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo! for $44.6 billion. At that time, Yahoo! was trying to catch up with Google. Jerry Yang did not want to sell Yahoo! He refused the offer. This decision made some investors unhappy, and Yahoo!'s stock price went down.
Leaving Yahoo!
In 2008, Jerry Yang announced he would step down as CEO. He remained on Yahoo!'s board of directors. In January 2012, Jerry Yang officially left Yahoo! and all related companies.
AME Cloud Ventures
After leaving Yahoo!, Jerry Yang started a new company called AME Cloud Ventures. This company invests in new technology startups. "Ame" means "rain" in Japanese. This name is a nod to Jerry's interest in "cloud computing," which is like storing data in the "cloud" (online).
AME Cloud Ventures has invested in over 50 startups. Some of these include popular apps and services like Evernote, Wattpad, Wish, and Zoom.
Being on Company Boards
Jerry Yang has served on the boards of many important companies. Being on a board means he helps guide the company's decisions.
- Yahoo! (1995–2012)
- Cisco (2000–2012)
- Alibaba Group (2006–2012; 2014– )
- Stanford University Chair of Board of Trustees (2005–2015; 2017– )
- Workday, Inc. (2013– )
- Lenovo Group Limited (2013– )
Personal Life
Jerry Yang is married to Akiko Yamazaki. She was born in Japan and grew up in Costa Rica. They met in 1992 during a student exchange program at Stanford University. Akiko also graduated from Stanford. She works with the Wildlife Conservation Network, which helps protect animals. Jerry and Akiko live in Los Altos Hills, California.
Giving Back and Impact
Jerry Yang and his wife are very generous. In 2007, they gave $75 million to Stanford University. A large part of this money helped build the "Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building." This building is designed to be very eco-friendly.
They also have a large collection of Chinese calligraphy, which is a beautiful form of Chinese writing. Parts of their collection have been shown in art museums. In 2017, they gave $25 million to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. This was the largest donation the museum had ever received. A new part of the museum, named after them, opened in 2020.
In 2020, Jerry Yang was featured in a PBS TV series called Asian Americans. This show tells the history of Asian Americans. In 2021, he helped start The Asian American Foundation. This group works to fight racism against Asian Americans and support the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.
See also
In Spanish: Jerry Yang para niños
- Joseph Tsai
