Jerry Yang (“Yng Zhyun”, produced November 6, 1968) is a Taiwanese-born American web entrepreneur, the co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo! Inc. They took leaves of absence and postponed their doctoral applications forever. Yahoo! started off as a web portal using a web directory supplying an extensive array of services and products for on-line tasks. It’s now among the leading web brands and, due to partnerships with telecommunications companies, has the most trafficked network on the web.[citation needed] In 1999, he was named to the MIT Technology Review TR100 as among the top 100 innovators on the planet below the age of 35. As CEO from June 2007 to January 2009, Yang was criticized by many investors, including Carl Icahn, for not raising earnings and stock price, while there is an exodus of executives. On November 17, 2008, The Wall Street Journal reported Jerry Yang would step down as CEO when the firm found a replacement. On January 13, 2009, Yahoo! named Silicon Valley expert Carol Bartz as its new chief executive, essentially replacing Yang. Yang recovered his former place as “Chief Yahoo” and continued on Yahoo’s board of directors. On January 17, 2012, Yahoo! declared that Jerry Yang would be leaving the company, and also would be stepping down in the board and other places in the organization. The firm also declared his resignation in the boards of Yahoo! Japan and Alibaba Corp. He’s become an angel investor and mentor to technology startups.