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David Filo

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David Filo
Filo in 2007
Born
David Robert Filo[1]

(1966-04-20) April 20, 1966 (age 58)
Wisconsin, U.S.
Alma materTulane University (BA)
Stanford University (MA)
Occupation(s)Co-founder and Chief Yahoo, Yahoo! Inc.
SpouseAngela Buenning
Children1

David Robert Filo (born April 20, 1966) is an American billionaire businessman and the co-founder of Yahoo! with classmate Jerry Yang. His Filo Server Program, written in the C programming language, was the server-side software used to dynamically serve variable web pages, called Filo Server Pages, on visits to early versions of the Yahoo! website.[2][3]

Early life

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Filo was born in Wisconsin and was raised in Moss Bluff, Louisiana.[citation needed] He earned a B.S. degree in computer engineering at Tulane University (through the Dean's Honor Scholarship) and an M.S. degree Electrical Engineering in 1990 at Stanford University.[4]

Career

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In February 1994, he co-created with Jerry Yang an Internet website called "Jerry and David'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 Filo and Yang realized the business potential and co-founded Yahoo! Inc.[5][6]

Yahoo! started off as a web portal with a web directory providing an extensive range of products and services for various online activities. Yahoo was one of the pioneers of the early Internet era in the 1990s. It is still one of the leading internet brands and, due to partnerships with telecommunications firms, is one of the most visited websites on the internet.[7][8]

Personal life

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Filo is married to photographer and teacher Angela Buenning, a graduate of Stanford (1993) and Berkeley (1999).[9] They have one child, and live in Palo Alto, California.[4]

In 2005, he gave $30 million to his alma mater, Tulane University, for use in its School of Engineering.[4]

The Filos have been major benefactors of both Stanford, especially its schools of sustainability and education, and Berkeley, primarily its graduate school of journalism.[10][11][12]

As of September 2019, Forbes estimated Filo to be worth $4.3 billion, ranking him the 379th-richest person in the world.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Centennial Year Commencement Exercises, Stanford University, June 16, 1991, p. 69, archived from the original on December 22, 2019, retrieved June 26, 2018
  2. ^ Gobry, Pascal-Emmanuel. "10 Behind-The-Scenes Crankers Who Built The World's Greatest Startups". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  3. ^ "David Filo". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  4. ^ a b c d "Forbes profile: David Filo". Forbes. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  5. ^ Yahoo! Inc. – Company History. yhoo.client.shareholder.com
  6. ^ McCracken, Harry (2019-10-17). "Deleting Yahoo Groups will leave a permanent stain on Yahoo's legacy". Fast Company. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
  7. ^ Alex Gray (April 10, 2017). "These are the world's most popular websites". World Economic Forum. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  8. ^ "Most Popular Sites 2012: Alexa Ranks The 500 Most-Visited Websites," Huffington Post, August 9, 2012
  9. ^ Another billionaire drops Archived December 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Amy Adams and Anneke Cole (May 4, 2022). "Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, university's first new school in 70 years, will accelerate solutions to global climate crisis". Stanford University.
  11. ^ "UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism Announces New Advisory Board". Berkeley Journalism. March 4, 2017.
  12. ^ "David and Angela Filo". 18 August 2021. Archived from the original on 2022-11-14.
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