Eric Yuan | |
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Born | [1] | 20 February 1970
Citizenship | United States [2] |
Education |
Shandong University of Science and Technology (
BS) China University of Mining and Technology ( MS) |
Occupation | Businessman |
Title | Founder and CEO, Zoom Video Communications |
Spouse | Sherry (m. 1991 or 1992) [3] [4] |
Children | 3 [4] |
Eric Yuan | |||||||
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Chinese | 袁征 | ||||||
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Eric S Yuan [5] ( Chinese: 袁征; pinyin: Yuán Zhēng; born 20 February 1970) is a Chinese-American billionaire businessman, engineer, and the chief executive officer and founder of Zoom Video Communications, of which he owns 22%. [6] [7]
Yuan is the son of geological engineers. [8] He was born and raised in Tai'an, Shandong Province, China. [9] [10] In 4th grade, Yuan collected construction scraps to recycle copper for cash. [9]
As a first-year university student in 1987, he was inspired to develop videotelephony software while he took 10-hour train rides to visit his girlfriend and was looking for an easier way to "visit" her. [11] [10] He earned a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics with a minor in computer application from Shandong University of Science and Technology, [12] and a master's degree in geology engineering from China University of Mining and Technology in Beijing. [13] [14] Yuan completed a Stanford University executive program in 2006. [9] [15] [16]
After earning his master's degree, Yuan lived in Beijing, [17] and attended a training program in Japan for four months. [14] Inspired by Bill Gates, who spoke in Japan in 1995, he moved to Silicon Valley in 1997 to join the tech boom. [11] [18] At the time, Yuan spoke very little English, and applied nine times before being granted a visa to the United States. [10] [19]
Upon arriving in the US, Yuan joined WebEx, a web conferencing startup, where he was one of the first 20 hires. [9] [8] The company was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2007, at which time he became vice president of engineering. [10] In 2011, Yuan pitched a new smartphone-friendly video conferencing system to Cisco management. [20] When the idea was rejected, Yuan left Cisco to establish his own company, Zoom Video Communications. [10]
In 2019, Zoom became a public company via an initial public offering, [21] at which time Yuan became a billionaire. [9] [2] His wealth has increased during COVID-19 pandemic, as Zoom benefited from the shift to online work and teaching. [22] On 1 September 2020, Yuan's net worth was estimated to be US$16.4 billion, a figure 360% higher than his net worth at the beginning of the year. [23] In March 2021, Yuan transferred $6 billion worth of Zoom shares to a grantor retained annuity trust, for which Yuan is a trustee. [24]
Yuan married his girlfriend Sherry at the age of 22, while he was a master's student at China University of Mining and Technology in Beijing. [9] They have three children. One of his children is Roy Yuan who plays on the Stanford basketball team and has a Youtube channel with over 20 thousand subscribers. [25] Yuan and his family live in Santa Clara, California. [2] In 2007, Yuan became a naturalized United States citizen. [26]
Yuan chose the middle name "S" after Subrah Iyar, cofounder of WebEx. [5]
Yuan was named the 2020 Time Businessperson of the Year, [27] and was included in the Time 100 Most Influential People of 2020. [28]
At Shandong University of Science & Technology, Yuan studied applied mathematics and computer science and then, at age 22, got married while pursuing his Master's degree.