# Jerry Yang

> Jerry Yang is the Taiwanese-born American co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo and founding partner of AME Cloud Ventures. His career spans the early web directory he built with David Filo, Yahoo’s partnerships in Japan and China, technology investing, Stanford governance and philanthropy with his wife, Akiko Yamazaki, in education, conservation and Asian art.

- **Role:** Founding Partner at AME Cloud Ventures
- **Organizations:** AME Cloud Ventures, Yahoo (co-founder; former CEO and director), Stanford University (trustee; board chair 2021-2025), Workday (director), Alibaba Group (director), Committee of 100
- **From:** Taipei, Taiwan
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S., Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, M.S., Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Doctoral studies in Electrical Engineering; left before completion, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-created Yahoo's directory and co-founded the company that went public in 1996., Helped build Yahoo's relationships with Yahoo Japan and Alibaba., Founded AME Cloud Ventures in 2012.

## Career timeline

- **1978** — Immigrated from Taiwan to the United States; grew up in San Jose.
- **1990** — Earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering at Stanford.
- **1994** — Created the website directory that became Yahoo with David Filo.
- **1995** — Yahoo incorporated and received Sequoia backing; Tim Koogle became its first CEO.
- **1996** — Yahoo went public in April.
- **2005** — Helped lead Yahoo's Alibaba investment; joined Stanford's Board of Trustees.
- **2007-2009** — Served as Yahoo CEO.
- **2012** — Left Yahoo's board and founded AME Cloud Ventures.
- **2013** — Became a Workday director.
- **2021-2025** — Chaired Stanford's Board of Trustees.
- **2025** — Continued as Stanford trustee after Lily Sarafan succeeded him as chair on July 1.

## Achievements

- Co-created Yahoo's directory and co-founded the company that went public in 1996.
- Helped build Yahoo's relationships with Yahoo Japan and Alibaba.
- Founded AME Cloud Ventures in 2012.
- Recognized with David Filo as Stanford Engineering Heroes in 2013.
- With Akiko Yamazaki, pledged $75 million to Stanford in 2007 and $25 million to the Asian Art Museum expansion campaign.

## Latest updates

- **2025-07** — Lily Sarafan succeeded him as Stanford trustee chair on July 1; Stanford announced he would remain a trustee.
- **2025-01** — Appeared on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid to discuss Yahoo, leadership, investing and AI.

## Links

- Website: https://www.amecloudventures.com/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jerry-yang
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-21