Yahoo was founded in 1994 by two friends at Stanford University, David Filo and Jerry Yang. Filo, like Terry Semel, is very quiet and avoids the limelight, rarely giving interviews. Yang is the more outgoing of the two and acts as the company's cheerleader. Both men still take an active part in the company, although Filo prefers to focus on the technology end of things. His title is key technologist. Yang sits on the board of directors and works closely with Semel to direct the company's business focus. The title the two men share and the one they gave themselves is that of Chief Yahoo.
David Filo was born in 1966 in Wisconsin to Jerry and Carol Filo; Jerry was an architect and Carol an accountant. The family soon moved to Moss Bluff, Louisiana, where they lived in an alternative community setting along with several other families. In 1988 Filo earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from Tulane University in New Orleans. He then moved to Palo Alto, California, to study at Stanford University, where he met future friend and business partner Jerry Yang.
Yang was born Chih-Yuan Yang in Taiwan in 1968. His father died when he was only two years old and he, along with younger brother, Ken, were raised by his mother, Lily, an English and drama teacher. When Yang was ten, Lily moved her family to the United States, settling in a suburb of San Jose, California. At first Yang spoke only Chinese, but he learned English quickly, and earned straight A's in school. After graduating from high school he attended Stanford where, in 1990, he simultaneously earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering.
While they were doctoral students, Filo and Yang shared an office at Stanford. The "office" was a trailer filled with pizza boxes, golf clubs, and dirty laundry. Of course the office also housed their computers, which they nicknamed Akebono and Konishiki, after their favorite Sumo wrestlers. This was in the early days of the Internet, and Filo and Yang were soon hooked on the new technology, often spending hours surfing the Net instead of focusing on their Ph.D. studies. The World Wide Web, however, was difficult to navigate, because it was a mishmash of incategorized data. Because they used the Internet so much, Filo and Yang decided to create an index of their favorite Web sites, a kind of roadmap that would help them get to their sites more easily. They designed some simple software that organized the Web pages by subject, and they launched their own Web site, called "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web."
Since the Web site resided on the Stanford server, Stanford students quickly began to use the helpful new tool. Other users stumbled on it, and within months the site was attracting thousands of people who were looking for a way to locate their favorite Web pages. Because their site was visited so often, Filo and Yang decided to change the site name to something a little simpler. After searching through the dictionary they found the word yahoo and decided to poke fun at themselves, since a yahoo is an unsophisticated person. The newly-named Yahoo continued to attract more users, and began to attract the attention of on-line companies such as America Online (AOL), who offered to buy the service. Filo and Yang, however, retained ownership of their creation, and continued to work up to twenty hours a day to make Yahoo an even better search engine.
In 1995 the pair received backing to start their own company, and a friend from Stanford helped them write a business plan. They left Stanford, rented office space, and in 1996 the company went public, which means that its stock was offered for sale to the public for the first time. Filo and Yang became instant millionaires. They also became examples of the modern-day executive: young, anti-corporate entrepreneurs who wore jeans to the office and worked barefoot late into the night. Along the way, Filo and Yang forever changed the way people view the Internet. Yahoo eventually grew from a search engine to becoming an Internet portal for people to access the World Wide Web. Today, Yahoo offers personalized Web pages, e-mail, chat rooms, and message boards. Users can log on to get any kind of information imaginable, from finance reports to a song by a favorite music artist—all in a fun, slick environment. And the thanks go to Filo and Yang, just a couple of Yahoos.
Yang was born Chih-Yuan Yang in Taiwan in 1968. His father died when he was only two years old and he, along with younger brother, Ken, were raised by his mother, Lily, an English and drama teacher. When Yang was ten, Lily moved her family to the United States, settling in a suburb of San Jose, California. At first Yang spoke only Chinese, but he learned English quickly, and earned straight A's in school. After graduating from high school he attended Stanford where, in 1990, he simultaneously earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering.
While they were doctoral students, Filo and Yang shared an office at Stanford. The "office" was a trailer filled with pizza boxes, golf clubs, and dirty laundry. Of course the office also housed their computers, which they nicknamed Akebono and Konishiki, after their favorite Sumo wrestlers. This was in the early days of the Internet, and Filo and Yang were soon hooked on the new technology, often spending hours surfing the Net instead of focusing on their Ph.D. studies. The World Wide Web, however, was difficult to navigate, because it was a mishmash of incategorized data. Because they used the Internet so much, Filo and Yang decided to create an index of their favorite Web sites, a kind of roadmap that would help them get to their sites more easily. They designed some simple software that organized the Web pages by subject, and they launched their own Web site, called "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web."
Since the Web site resided on the Stanford server, Stanford students quickly began to use the helpful new tool. Other users stumbled on it, and within months the site was attracting thousands of people who were looking for a way to locate their favorite Web pages. Because their site was visited so often, Filo and Yang decided to change the site name to something a little simpler. After searching through the dictionary they found the word yahoo and decided to poke fun at themselves, since a yahoo is an unsophisticated person. The newly-named Yahoo continued to attract more users, and began to attract the attention of on-line companies such as America Online (AOL), who offered to buy the service. Filo and Yang, however, retained ownership of their creation, and continued to work up to twenty hours a day to make Yahoo an even better search engine.
In 1995 the pair received backing to start their own company, and a friend from Stanford helped them write a business plan. They left Stanford, rented office space, and in 1996 the company went public, which means that its stock was offered for sale to the public for the first time. Filo and Yang became instant millionaires. They also became examples of the modern-day executive: young, anti-corporate entrepreneurs who wore jeans to the office and worked barefoot late into the night. Along the way, Filo and Yang forever changed the way people view the Internet. Yahoo eventually grew from a search engine to becoming an Internet portal for people to access the World Wide Web. Today, Yahoo offers personalized Web pages, e-mail, chat rooms, and message boards. Users can log on to get any kind of information imaginable, from finance reports to a song by a favorite music artist—all in a fun, slick environment. And the thanks go to Filo and Yang, just a couple of Yahoos.
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