The My Hero Project - Jerry Yang

Celebrate the best of humanity.

BUSINESS HERO:

JERRY YANG

by Erin from Spokane

Jerry Yang, Co-Founder of Yahoo!
(http://www.sensoryaccess.com/images/Yang.jpg)

Jerry Yang is a Taiwanese American entrepreneur. He was born on November 6, 1968 in Taipei, the capitol of Taiwan, and moved to California at the age of ten with his mother and younger brother. Jerry Yang only knew “one English word (shoe) on his arrival,” (wikipedia.com) but mastered the English language in only three years. He eventually went on to graduate from the prestigious Stanford University with a degree in electrical engineering.

While getting his doctorate in electrical engineering at Stanford, Yang and fellow engineering graduate David Filo devoted themselves to indexing their favorite links and posting them on a website. “In April of 1994, Yang and Filo co-created an Internet website consisting of a directory of other websites called, “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web” (Wikipedia.com). The website was renamed Yahoo, a name chosen to make fun of the liberal use of acronyms in the tech world. Yahoo stands for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle,” but was also named because both Yang and Filo liked the general definition of yahoo - “rude, unsophisticated, uncouth.” Realizing that they were on to something big, six months away from finishing their doctoral thesis, Yang and Filo took a leave of absence, from which they would never return, and instead co-founded Yahoo! Inc. in April of 1995.

Yang and Filo launching new Yahoo! Mail (Yahoo! Images)

Yang turned his downtime hobby into a full-time pursuit, and it made him a billionaire in the process. Yang’s hard work and dedication paid off. Jerry Yang is now the co-founder and CEO of Yahoo! Inc. He is also one of the two Chief Yahoo!s and on the Board of Directors of the company. As of 2007, 38-year-old Yang’s net worth is estimated to be $2.2 billion and he is ranked 432nd among the world’s richest people according to Forbes (wikipedia.com). Yang had the courage to pursue his interest and passion and turned it into a way to make a living. He loved what he did and ran with it.

Jerry Yang co-created Yahoo! which started off as a “web portal with a web dictionary,” and evolved into a website that provides an extensive range of products and services for online activities (wikipedia.com). Yahoo! is now one of the leading Internet brands and has the most trafficked networks on the Internet.

Computers are part of our daily lives these days and along with that the Internet has more power than it did decades ago. Yang is a hero because he created something that people worldwide use constantly. Without websites like Yahoo!, we would be confused and lost on the Internet. People want their information quickly, and using the Internet is the way to go compared to going to the library and looking through books. Without websites like Yahoo!, it would take people hours and hours to find certain specific online web pages. Yahoo! makes finding things on the Internet fast and convenient, something Internet users value highly.

Written by Erin from Spokane

Last changed on: 11/2/2011 1:59:57 PM

goldsea.com America's Most Successful Asian Entrepreneurs

wikipedia.com Jerry Chih-Yuan Yang: early life,career and personal life

chinadaily.com Yahoo names Jerry Yang new CEO

Wikipedia.com. "Jerry Yang." [Online] Available http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Yang. 27 Sept. 2007.

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