Jerry Yang (entrepreneur)

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Jerry Yang
楊致遠

Jerry Yang
Born November 6, 1968 (1968-11-06) (age 43)
Taipei, Taiwan
Residence Los Altos Hills, California, U.S.[1]
Alma mater Stanford University
Occupation Founder of Yahoo! Inc.; Board of Directors, Cisco; Former CEO of Yahoo! Inc.
Salary $1.00[2]
Net worth increase US $ 1.3 billion (est.) (March 2011)[3]
Spouse Akiko Yamazaki (Japanese)

Jerry Yang (traditional Chinese: 楊致遠; simplified Chinese: 杨致远; pinyin: Yáng Zhìyuǎn; born November 6, 1968 in Taipei, Taiwan) is an Internet Entrepreneur, the co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo! Inc.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born in Taipei, Taiwan on November 6, 1968, Yang moved to San Jose, California at the age of ten with his mother and younger brother. His father died when Yang was two. He claimed that despite his mother being an English teacher, he only knew one English word (shoe) on his arrival. Becoming fluent in three years, he was placed into an AP English class.[4]

Yang graduated from Sierramont Middle School and Piedmont Hills High School.[5] Yang went on to earn a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from Stanford University, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.[5][6]

[edit] Career

While Yang studied in Electrical Engineering at Stanford, he co-created in April 1994 with David Filo an Internet website called "Jerry and Dave's Guide to the World Wide Web" consisting of a directory of other websites. It was renamed "Yahoo!" (an exclamation). Yahoo! became very popular, and Yang and Filo realized the business potential and co-founded Yahoo! Inc. in April 1995.[7] They took leaves of absence and postponed their doctoral programs indefinitely.

Yahoo! started off as a web portal with a web directory providing an extensive range of products and services for online activities. It is now one of the leading internet brands and, due to partnerships with telecommunications firms, has the most trafficked network on the internet.[citation needed] In 1999, he was named to the MIT Technology Review TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.[8]

As CEO from June 2007 to January 2009, Yang had been criticized by many investors, including Carl Icahn, for not increasing revenues and stock price, while there has been a exodus of executives. Yahoo!'s stock price plummeted after it rejected a takeover from Microsoft, a bid that Yang strongly opposed.[9] On November 17, 2008, The Wall Street Journal reported Jerry Yang would step down as CEO as soon as the company found a replacement. [10]

On January 13, 2009, Yahoo! named Silicon Valley veteran Carol Bartz as its new chief executive, effectively replacing Yang.[11] Yang regained his former position as "Chief Yahoo" and remained on Yahoo's board of directors.[12]

On January 17, 2012, Yahoo! announced that Jerry Yang will be leaving the company, and will be resigning from the board and all other positions at the company. The company also announced his resignation from the boards of Yahoo! Japan and Alibaba Corp.[13]

[edit] Personal life

Yang is married to Akiko Yamazaki, a Japanese woman who was raised in Costa Rica. Yamazaki graduated from Stanford University with a degree in industrial engineering and is a director with the Wildlife Conservation Network. The couple met at Stanford University in the Kyoto overseas program in 1992.

Yang is currently on the Board of Directors of the Asian Pacific Fund, and Cisco, and is also on the Stanford University Board of Trustees.[14]

[edit] Philanthropy

In February 2007, Jerry Yang and his wife gave USD $75 million to Stanford University, their alma mater, the bulk of which went to building the "Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building",[15] a multi-disciplinary research, teaching and lab building, the first to be realized on Stanford's new Science and Engineering Quad.

[edit] Criticism

[edit] China

Jerry Yang was criticized for a statement regarding the role of Yahoo! in the arrest of Chinese journalist Shi Tao by Chinese authorities.

While in China, Shi Tao used a Yahoo email address to notify a pro-democracy website that the Chinese government ordered the Chinese media not to cover the fifteenth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 on June 4. Yahoo! provided the Chinese security agencies with the IP addresses of the senders, the recipients and the time of the message. Tao was subsequently convicted for "divulging state secrets abroad." Yang was heavily criticized and Reporters Without Borders called Yahoo! "a Chinese police informant" whose actions led to the conviction of a journalist and writer.

Yang declared, "To be doing business in China, or anywhere else in the world, we have to comply with local law[s]." This was controversial, as critics claimed Yahoo! violated international law as well as a 1989 decision by the U.S. Congress to prohibit U.S. companies from selling "crime control and detection" equipment or software to the Chinese Government.[16]

The New York Times reported that political prisoner Wang Xiaoning and other journalists had brought a civil suit against Yahoo for allegedly aiding and abetting the Chinese government which, it was claimed, resulted in torture that included beatings and imprisonment.[17]

In October 2007 Jerry Yang was summoned to Washington to answer for Yahoo's comments regarding its role in the arrests of Shi Tao and other journalists in China.[18][19]

On November 14, 2007, Yahoo agreed to settle with affected Chinese dissidents, paying them undisclosed compensation. Yang stated, "After meeting with the families, it was clear to me what we had to do to make this right for them, for Yahoo, and for the future." In response, Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos, chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, stated, "It took a tongue-lashing from Congress before these high-tech titans did the right thing and coughed up some concrete assistance for the family of a journalist whom Yahoo had helped send to jail. What a disgrace."[20]

Jerry Yang wrote a letter to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice requesting her assistance in freeing the jailed dissidents.[21] In addition, Yang established the Yahoo! Human Rights Fund, a fund to provide "humanitarian and legal support" to online dissidents.[22] One of the first public projects of the fund was financing the establishment of the Laogai Museum, a museum opened by noted Chinese dissident Harry Wu to showcase China's laogai penal system.[23]

This change of heart has not been able to stop the chain of events that began with the arrest of jailed dissident Li Zhi, which resulted in another lawsuit being filed against Yahoo on behalf of Plaintiffs Zheng Cunzhu and Guo Quan who allege the loss of property and a garment business. The complaint alleges, "violation of international law including torture and prolonged detention, as well as unfair business practices, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and assault."[24]

[edit] Microsoft

Yang was also criticized by shareholders for rejecting an offer of $33 a share from Microsoft in May 2008. Microsoft subsequently walked away from the negotiations. In November 2008, the shares were valued at only $14 [25] and Google also decided not to proceed with commercial search advertising arrangements under negotiation influenced by the concerns voiced by the US authorities regarding the effect on competition in the market. On July 29, 2009, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced a search deal to compete against Google after Microsoft successfully launched its Bing search service earlier in June.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Profile of Jerry Yang. Forbes.com (2011-03-29). Retrieved on 2012-01-09.
  2. ^ Yahoo CEO Yang Made $1 in salary last year. MSNBC (2008-04-29). Retrieved on 2012-01-09.
  3. ^ "#773 Jerry Yang - Forbes.com". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/profile/jerry-yang. 
  4. ^ Schlender, Brent (2000-03-06). "How A Virtuoso Plays The Web Eclectic, inquisitive, and academic, Yahoo's Jerry Yang reinvents the role of the entrepreneur.". Fortune (Cable News Network). http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/03/06/275253/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  5. ^ a b Jerry Yang | Career Biographies career-bios.com. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
  6. ^ Phi Kappa Psi Mass Beta – Famous Phi Psi's Phi Kappa Psi Massachusetts Beta. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
  7. ^ Yahoo! Inc. – Company History. yhoo.client.shareholder.com
  8. ^ "1999 Young Innovators Under 35: Jerry Yang, 29". Technology Review. 1999. http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/profile.aspx?TRID=541. Retrieved August 14, 2011. 
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ Yang to Step Down as Yahoo CEO, The Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2008
  11. ^ Yahoo names new chief executive, BBC News, January 14, 2009
  12. ^ Michael Liedtke (2008-11-18). "Yahoo! to Replace Yang as CEO". TheStreet.com. http://www.thestreet.com/story/10448487/yahoo-to-replace-yang-as-ceo.html. Retrieved 2009-09-11. 
  13. ^ Yahoo announces resignation of Jerry Yang, ‘’Marketwatch News, January 17, 2012
  14. ^ Yahoo! Inc. – Management Team. yhoo.client.shareholder.com
  15. ^ Hennessy outlines ‘green’ building plans. News-service.stanford.edu (2008-09-10). Retrieved on 2012-01-09.
  16. ^ Xue Li: Human Rights Lawyer Questions Yahoo!'s Aid to China in Arresting a Journalist, Epoch Times, Sep 23, 2005
    Obeying Orders, Washington Post, September 18, 2005
  17. ^ Chinese political prisoner sues in U.S. court, New York Times, April 18, 2007
    Chinese political
  18. ^ Yahoo summoned to Washington over Chinese arrests, c/net news blog, October 16, 2007
  19. ^ Boudreau, John (2007-11-07). "Lawmaker scolds Yahoo: 'Morally you are pygmies'". Mercury News. http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7392987?nclick_check=1. Retrieved 2007-11-14. 
  20. ^ Kopytoff, Verne (2007-11-14). "Yahoo settles with jailed Chinese journalists". SFGate. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/14/BUN4TBJNV.DTL. Retrieved 2007-11-14. 
  21. ^ "Rice presses China on jailed dissidents". International Herald Tribune. 2007-02-27. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/27/business/yahoo.php. Retrieved 2007-02-27. 
  22. ^ "Press Release: Yahoo! Inc Reaches Settlement On Lawsuit Works To Establish Human Rights Fund". Yahoo!. http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/PRESS/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=302980. Retrieved 12 December 2008. 
  23. ^ Fowler, Geoffrey A (12 November 2008). "Yahoo-Sponsored Chinese Human Rights Museum Opens in Washington". The Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/11/12/yahoo-sponsored-chinese-human-rights-museum-opens-in-washington/. Retrieved 12 December 2008. 
  24. ^ Mills, Elinor (2007-02-27). "Yahoo sued by jailed dissidents again". CNET News. http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9881042-7.html?tag=newsmap. Retrieved 2007-02-27. 
  25. ^ Shiels, Maggie. (2008-11-06) Technology | Yahoo tells Microsoft: 'Buy us'. BBC News. Retrieved on 2012-01-09.

[edit] External links

Business positions
Preceded by
Company founded		 Yahoo! CEO
1994–2009		 Succeeded by
Carol Bartz
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