September 19, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has decimated the sources of income for millions of people all over the world, but not Eric Yuan’s.
According to Business Insider, “Even before the outbreak of the coronavirus forced people to work and socialize primarily online, Zoom’s share price grew exponentially. Less than two years after joining the three-comma club, Yuan has amassed a fortune of over $17 billion.”
Yuan is now officially ranked on the Forbes 400, making him one of the richest men in the US.
50-year-old Eric Yuan is the founder of the video conferencing app Zoom. He was born in China’s Shandong province. Both his parents are mining engineers. According to Business Insider, Yuan has an undergraduate degree in applied mathematics and a master’s degree in engineering.
Yuan spent four years working in Japan after graduating from university but wanted to move to California’s Silicon Valley after listening to Bill Gates give a speech about the dot-com bubble. Yuan’s visa application was denied eight times before finally being allowed to move to California in 1997.
Another Asian benefitting from the current coronavirus pandemic would be the founder of Canva, 32-year-old Filipino-Australian Melanie Perkins, who is now worth $6 billion, making her the 3rd richest woman in Australia and also the youngest billionaire.
As with Zoom, Canva is a digital graphics business, perfect for people working at home and utilizing Canva’s simplistic software for their professional needs as well as high school and college students who use Canva for their school projects.
Feature Image via CNBC