Eric S Yuan (; born 20 February 1970) is a

Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

billionaire businessman,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, and the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

and founder of Zoom Communications, of which he owns 22%.

Early life and education

Yuan is the son of geological engineers. He was born and raised in

Tai'an Tai'an () is a prefecture-level city in Western Shandong Province of the People's Republic of China. Centered on Mount Tai, the city borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Zibo to the east, Linyi to the southeast, Liaocheng ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

Province, China. In the fourth grade, Yuan collected construction scraps to recycle copper for cash. As a first-year university student in 1987, Yuan was inspired to develop

videotelephony Videotelephony (also known as videoconferencing or video calling) is the use of audio signal, audio and video for simultaneous two-way communication. Today, videotelephony is widespread. There are many terms to refer to videotelephony. ''Vide ...

software while he took 10-hour train rides to visit his girlfriend and was looking for an easier way to "visit" her. Yuan earned a bachelor's degree in

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematics, mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and Industrial sector, industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a ...

with a minor in

computer application Application software is any computer program that is intended for end-user use not operating, administering or programming the computer. An application (app, application program, software application) is any program that can be categorized as ...

from Shandong University of Science and Technology, and a master's degree in geology engineering from

China University of Mining and Technology The China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT; ) is a public university located in Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and co-sponsored with the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government and the Ministry ...

in Beijing. Yuan completed a

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

executive program in 2006.

Career

After earning his master's degree, Yuan lived in Beijing, and attended a training program in Japan for four months. Inspired by

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...

, who spoke in Japan in 1995, Yuan moved to

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

in 1997 to join the tech boom. At the time, Yuan spoke very little English, and applied nine times before being granted a visa to the United States. Upon arriving in the U.S., Yuan joined

WebEx Webex by Cisco, is an American subsidiary of Cisco Systems that develops and sells web conferencing, videoconferencing and contact center as a service applications. It was founded as WebEx Communications, Inc., in 1995 and acquired by Cisco Sy ...

, a web conferencing startup, where he was one of the first 20 hires. The company was acquired by

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...

in 2007, at which time Yuan became vice president of engineering. In 2011, he pitched a new smartphone-friendly video conferencing system to Cisco management. When the idea was rejected, Yuan left Cisco to establish his own company, Zoom Communications. In 2019, Zoom became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

, at which time Yuan became a billionaire. His wealth has increased during

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, as Zoom benefited from the shift to online work and teaching. 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. In March 2021, Yuan transferred $6 billion worth of Zoom shares to a grantor retained annuity trust, for which Yuan is a trustee.

Personal life

Yuan married his girlfriend, Sherry, at the age of 22, while he was a master's student at

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. They have three children. One of his children is Roy Yuan, who plays on the Stanford basketball team and has a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel with over 40,000 subscribers. Yuan and his family live in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Clare of Assisi, Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities and towns i ...

. In 2007, Yuan became a naturalized

United States citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constitu ...

. Yuan chose the middle name "S" after

Subrah Iyar Subrah S. Iyar (born June 11, 1957) is an entrepreneur of Indian origin. He co-founded and was CEO of web conferencing provider WebEx until its acquisition by Cisco Systems in 2007 for US $3.2 billion. He is an early investor in and an advisor ...

, cofounder of

Recognition

Yuan was named the 2020 ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' Businessperson of the Year, and was included in the ''Time'' 100 Most Influential People of 2020. In 2020, Yuan was named by

Carnegie Corporation of New York The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Since its founding, the Carnegie Corporation has endowed or othe ...

as an honoree of the Great Immigrants Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuan, Eric 1970 births American billionaires Businesspeople from Shandong Chinese emigrants to the United States Cisco people Living people Shandong University of Science and Technology alumni China University of Mining and Technology alumni Stanford University alumni People from Santa Clara, California People from Tai'an American businesspeople