Jerry Yang

Lore & Background

Jerry Yang was born Yang Chih-Yuan in Taipei, Taiwan, on November 6, 1968. His mother was a professor of English and drama; his father died when he was two. In 1978, his mother moved the family to San Jose, California, where his grandmother and extended family cared for the boys while his mother taught English to other immigrants. Yang took the American name Jerry and learned English in about three years. He attended Ruskin Elementary School, Sierramont Middle, and Piedmont Hills High School, then earned both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from Stanford University in four years. At Stanford in 1989, he met David Filo, and in 1992 they went to Japan for a six-month exchange program, where he met his future wife, Akiko Yamazaki.

In 1994, while at Stanford, Yang and Filo co-created an Internet website called 'Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web,' a directory of other websites. It grew in popularity and was renamed Yahoo! Inc. By fall 1994, Yahoo! received around 100,000 unique visitors. In April 1995, Sequoia Capital invested $2 million, Tim Koogle was hired as CEO, and Yang and Filo were each appointed 'Chief Yahoo.' Yahoo! went public in April 1996 with 49 employees. Yang served as CEO from 2007 to 2009 and left the company in 2012. He later founded AME Cloud Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in data-focused startups.

Reader's Guide

Jerry Yang's significance lies in his role as a pioneer of the commercial internet. As co-founder of Yahoo!, he helped create one of the first widely used web directories, which shaped how early users navigated the online world. His leadership during Yahoo!'s growth and his later tenure as CEO during a turbulent period—including the failed Microsoft acquisition negotiations and controversies over cooperation with Chinese authorities—highlight the challenges of balancing business, law, and ethics in a globalized tech industry. Yang's investment in Alibaba in 2005, before he became CEO, is widely regarded as a landmark strategic move, yielding enormous returns for Yahoo! and demonstrating foresight in the Chinese internet market. After leaving Yahoo!, he transitioned to venture capital through AME Cloud Ventures, mentoring startups and investing in companies like Zoom and Evernote. His legacy includes both the blueprint for internet portals and a cautionary tale about the complexities of operating in authoritarian regimes.

Did You Know?

• Yang only knew one English word, 'shoe,' when he moved to the U.S. at age 10, but became fluent in about three years.
• He met his wife, Akiko Yamazaki, during a six-month Stanford exchange program in Japan in 1992.
• Yahoo!'s 2005 investment in Alibaba for $1 billion plus assets was later called 'the best investment an American company has ever made in China' by a hedge fund founder.
• In 2007, Yang established the Yahoo! Human Rights Fund after Yahoo! faced criticism for providing user data to Chinese authorities.