Jerry Yang Net Worth 2024

What is Jerry Yang’s Net Worth?

Jerry Yang is a Taiwanese-born American web entrepreneur who has a net worth of $2.5 billion. He is finest recognized for being the co-founder of Yahoo! In the previous, he additionally served because the CEO of Yahoo! A skilled laptop programmer, Jerry has earned his fortune by enterprise capitalism and web entrepreneurship.

Jerry co-founded Yahoo! in 1995 with David Filo.

Early Years

Yang Chih-Yuan was born on November sixth of 1968 in Taipei, Taiwan. He was raised largely by his mom, as his father handed away when he was simply two. In 1978, the family relocated to San Jose, California. His mom was a professor of English and drama on the time, however she was solely in a position to educate Yang one phrase earlier than taking him to the United States: “shoe.” However, Yang later adopted the identify “Jerry” and have become extremely fluent inside simply three years.

After graduating from highschool, Jerry attended Stanford University, the place he earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in electrical engineering. He earned each levels in simply 4 years. During this era, he met David Filo, with whom he would ultimately create Yahoo! The pair went on a scholar alternate program to Japan collectively throughout their college years, and Jerry met his future spouse throughout this journey.

Career

In 1994, Yang and Filo based Yahoo! From 2007 to 2009, Jerry served as CEO of the corporate earlier than leaving in 2012. He was later credited for creating “the blueprint for what is feasible on the web.” The web site was began whereas he and Filo have been nonetheless in college, though it was initially known as “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web.” As it turned extra well-liked, it was renamed “Yahoo!” By the autumn of 1994, it was attracting 100,000 distinctive guests, and it was receiving seven-figure investments from varied figures. By 1996, the corporate had gone public.

During this era, Yang was singled out for reward by MIT Technology Review TR100 as one of many prime innovators below the age of 35. Unfortunately, the dot-com bubble crash dampened the temper considerably, and Yahoo! was pressured to interchange Tim Koogle with Terry Semmel as the brand new CEO. Things did not get a lot better after Google fully wiped Yahoo! off the digital map, leading to Semmel being fired. It was at this level Yang stepped in to function the interim CEO.

TONY AVELAR/AFP/Getty Images

Yahoo! was not Jerry’s solely focus, nonetheless. He additionally made some fairly sensible investments by the corporate, buying a 40% stake in Alibaba again in 2005 for $1 billion. Yahoo! then offered its stake for $7.6 billion simply seven years later. As if that wasn’t ok, the corporate raked in $9.4 million in further funds from Alibaba’s IPO in 2014. Jerry was later celebrated for making “the perfect funding an American firm has ever made in China.”

But not all of Jerry’s selections could be described as clever. Back in 2008, Microsoft supplied to purchase Yahoo! for a whopping $44.6 billion. This was a hell of a deal, as Yahoo! was already falling behind Google at this level. It was additionally 62% greater than the corporate’s market worth. However, Yang proved to be uncooperative on the negotiation desk, and he ultimately refused to promote. After the deal fell by, the corporate’s inventory plunged, and Yang was closely criticized. In truth, many shareholders even launched lawsuits. It was clearly a large blunder, as Yahoo! was obliterated by Google not lengthy afterward.

Yang later stepped down as CEO in 2008 and ultimately left the corporate completely by 2012. He would go on to put money into varied startups by his agency, AME Cloud Ventures. He has invested in corporations like Zoom, Wish, and Evernote.

Controversy

Jerry’s profession has not been with out controversy. In 2004, Yahoo! cooperated with the Chinese authorities to arrest a journalist named Shi Tao. When information of this broke in 2005, Yang was confronted with appreciable backlash, because the journalist had used a Yahoo e mail handle to speak with pro-democracy activists about China’s choice to not cowl the fifteenth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protests. Yahoo! then offered Tao’s IP handle to Chinese safety companies, leading to her arrest and conviction.

Jerry defended himself, stating that he was merely complying with Chinese legal guidelines with a view to proceed doing enterprise within the nation. However, this didn’t cease quite a few journalists from referring to Yang as a “Chinese informant.” In 2007, Yahoo! was sued for aiding and abetting the Chinese authorities, and the plaintiffs claimed the corporate’s actions instantly resulted in individuals being crushed, tortured, and imprisoned.

This in flip led to a Yang showing earlier than a Congressional committee. He was particularly questioned on his function within the arrest of Tao and different journalists in China. Jerry apologized to Tao’s mom and Yahoo! ultimately agreed to settle with varied Chinese dissidents for undisclosed sums. He later based a Human Rights Fund and apparently assisted the Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in trying to free jailed dissidents.

Philanthropy

Yang is an energetic philanthropist, having donated to plenty of charitable organizations through the years. In 2007, he and his spouse donated $75 million to Stanford University, and the cash went in the direction of a brand new lab. In 2017, he and his spouse pledged $25 million to the Asian Art Museum. In 2021, he co-founded The Asian American Foundation with a $250 million initiative to deal with racism towards Asian Americans.