Eric Yuan

Eric Yuan
Born	Yuan Zheng (袁征) 20 2, 1970
Birthplace	Tai'an, Shandong, China
Nationality	American
Occupation	Businessman, engineer
Title	Founder and CEO, Zoom Communications
Known for	Founding Zoom Video Communications
Education	China University of Mining and Technology (MS)
Spouse(s)	Sherry (m. 1991)
Children	3
Awards	Time Businessperson of the Year (2020), Time 100 Most Influential People (2020)

Eric S. Yuan (Template:Zh; born February 20, 1970) is a Chinese-American billionaire businessman and engineer who is the founder and chief executive officer of Zoom Communications, the video communications platform that became one of the most widely used software applications in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Born and raised in Tai'an, Shandong, China, Yuan moved to the United States in 1997 after being inspired by a speech by Bill Gates about the potential of the internet. He spent more than a decade at Cisco's WebEx division before founding Zoom in 2011, driven by a desire to build a video conferencing product that prioritized ease of use and customer satisfaction. The company went public in April 2019 in one of the year's most successful initial public offerings, and Yuan's net worth surged during the pandemic as Zoom became synonymous with remote work and virtual gatherings. Yuan owns approximately 22 percent of the company and has been recognized by Time magazine as both its Businessperson of the Year in 2020 and one of its 100 Most Influential People.

Early Life

Eric Yuan was born on February 20, 1970, in Tai'an, a city in Shandong province in eastern China. He grew up in China during a period of significant economic transformation. As a young man, Yuan became interested in technology and the emerging possibilities of the internet. In the early 1990s, he was particularly inspired by a speech given by Bill Gates about the transformative potential of the internet, which he later cited as the catalyst for his decision to move to the United States.

Yuan has described how, as a university student in China, he would take long train rides — sometimes lasting ten hours or more — to visit his girlfriend (and future wife), Sherry. During those trips, he began imagining a technology that would allow people to see and talk to each other without the need for physical travel. This early desire to connect people across distances would later become the foundational motivation behind Zoom.

After deciding to pursue opportunities in the United States, Yuan applied for a U.S. visa multiple times. His applications were rejected eight times over a period of approximately two years before he was finally granted a visa in 1997. Yuan arrived in the United States at the age of 27, speaking very little English at the time. His perseverance in obtaining a visa despite repeated rejections has been frequently cited in profiles of Yuan as emblematic of his determination and resilience.

Education

Yuan received his undergraduate education at Shandong University of Science and Technology in China, where he earned a bachelor's degree. He subsequently pursued graduate studies at the China University of Mining and Technology, where he obtained a master's degree. Both degrees were in engineering-related fields, providing Yuan with the technical foundation that would later inform his approach to software development and product design. Yuan's formal education was completed in China before his move to the United States in 1997.

Career

WebEx and Cisco

Upon arriving in the United States in 1997, Yuan joined WebEx, a then-startup focused on web conferencing technology. He became one of the company's earliest engineers and spent the next several years helping to build its video conferencing platform. Yuan rose through the ranks at WebEx and was among the founding engineers who helped grow the company from a small startup into a major enterprise communications provider.

In 2007, Cisco Systems acquired WebEx for approximately $3.2 billion. Yuan continued working at Cisco as a vice president of engineering, overseeing the WebEx collaboration platform. By this time, he was managing a team of hundreds of engineers. However, Yuan grew increasingly frustrated with the direction of the product. He believed that WebEx's technology had become outdated and that the user experience was inadequate. He has said in interviews that he could see customers were not happy with the product, which troubled him deeply.

Yuan proposed ideas to Cisco leadership for rebuilding the WebEx platform from the ground up, with a focus on mobile-first design and improved user experience. When those proposals were not adopted, he made the decision to leave Cisco and build a new video conferencing product himself.

Founding of Zoom

In 2011, Yuan left Cisco and founded Saasbee, Inc., which was later renamed Zoom Video Communications. He was joined by 40 engineers from Cisco who shared his vision for a better video conferencing product. The company was built around a core premise: that video communication should be easy, reliable, and enjoyable for users, rather than a source of frustration.

Yuan has stated that his primary motivation in founding Zoom was customer happiness. In interviews, he described how at WebEx, he could never find customers who were truly satisfied with the product — an observation that stayed with him and informed the development philosophy at Zoom. Yuan oriented the company around delivering a frictionless user experience, emphasizing simplicity and reliability above all else.

A personal anecdote that Yuan has frequently shared involved a promise he made to his wife, Sherry. He has recounted how the commitment to building something meaningful and ensuring customer satisfaction was in part inspired by his relationship with his wife and the sacrifices they had made together.

Zoom launched its service in January 2013. The platform quickly gained traction, particularly among businesses and educational institutions, due to its ease of use and the high quality of its video and audio. The company's cloud-based architecture allowed it to scale more efficiently than older on-premises conferencing solutions.

IPO and Growth

Zoom Video Communications went public on NASDAQ on April 18, 2019, in one of the year's most notable initial public offerings. The stock opened at $65 per share, well above its IPO price of $36, and the company's market capitalization exceeded $15 billion on its first day of trading. Yuan's stake in the company made him a billionaire on the day of the IPO, with an estimated net worth of approximately $3 billion.

The IPO was notable for the company's financial profile at the time — Zoom was profitable at the time of its public offering, a rarity among technology companies going public during that period. Yuan has attributed this to the company's focus on building a product that essentially sold itself through word-of-mouth and organic adoption, reducing the need for heavy sales and marketing expenditure.

Pandemic-Era Surge

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 transformed Zoom from a well-regarded enterprise communications tool into a global household name. As governments around the world implemented lockdowns and social distancing measures, millions of individuals, businesses, schools, and organizations turned to Zoom for remote work, virtual education, social gatherings, and telehealth appointments.

The company's daily meeting participants grew from approximately 10 million in December 2019 to over 300 million by April 2020. Zoom became so ubiquitous that its name became a verb — "to Zoom" — used colloquially to describe any video call, regardless of the platform used. India became Zoom's second-largest market after the United States during this period.

The surge in usage had a dramatic effect on the company's financial performance and Yuan's personal wealth. In September 2020, following a record quarterly earnings report, Yuan's fortune increased by $4.2 billion in a single day. The company's stock price rose from around $70 at the beginning of 2020 to a peak of over $500 later that year.

However, the rapid growth also brought challenges. The company faced scrutiny over privacy and security concerns, including the phenomenon of "Zoombombing" — uninvited participants disrupting meetings. Yuan publicly acknowledged these issues and committed to addressing them, announcing a 90-day security plan and hiring new security personnel.

Post-Pandemic Strategy and AI Focus

As the acute phase of the pandemic subsided and many workers returned to offices at least part-time, Zoom faced the challenge of sustaining its pandemic-era growth. The company's stock price declined significantly from its 2020 highs as investors adjusted their expectations.

In response, Yuan has led efforts to reposition Zoom as a broader communications and collaboration platform rather than solely a video conferencing tool. The company rebranded from "Zoom Video Communications" to "Zoom Communications" to reflect this broader ambition.

Yuan has been particularly vocal about the role of artificial intelligence in the future of work. In October 2025, he stated publicly that AI technology would shorten the standard workweek to three or four days within a few years, as AI agents handle more routine tasks. This prediction placed him alongside other technology executives, including Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Bill Gates, who have expressed similar views about AI's potential to reduce working hours.

In a June 2025 interview with Fortune, Yuan discussed his personal philosophy on work-life balance, stating that "work is life, life is work" and acknowledging that he had given up hobbies to focus on building Zoom. He predicted that AI might eventually enable a two-day workweek.

In September 2025, Yuan appeared at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 alongside Emergence Capital General Partner Santi Subotovsky to discuss Zoom's "second act" and the company's evolving strategy. Yuan also discussed his approach to meetings and communication in a September 2025 interview with The New York Times, in which he outlined his vision for improving the way people use the Zoom platform. In a separate interview with Business Insider, Yuan shared practical advice on running effective video calls, suggesting that people should "just be themselves" and avoid being overly formal.

As of early 2026, Yuan continued to serve as CEO of Zoom Communications. Public filings showed that he periodically sold shares in the company; in February 2026, he sold 12,100 shares of Zoom stock. He also sold approximately $2.2 million worth of shares around the same period.

Personal Life

Yuan married his wife, Sherry, in the early 1990s. The couple has three children. Yuan became a United States citizen after immigrating from China in 1997.

Yuan has spoken publicly about his intense dedication to work, stating in a 2025 interview with Fortune that he views work and life as inseparable and has given up personal hobbies to focus on Zoom. He has, however, identified his family as the one exception to this philosophy, noting their importance in his life.

Yuan has described his early years in the United States as challenging due to the language barrier. When he arrived in 1997 at the age of 27, he spoke limited English, which initially made professional and social interactions difficult.

Yuan has been described in profiles as maintaining a management style centered on empathy and customer satisfaction. He has spoken repeatedly about the importance of making customers happy as the primary driver of business success, a principle he has said stems from his observations during his years at WebEx and Cisco.

Recognition

Yuan has received numerous awards and honors for his leadership and the impact of Zoom on global communications.

In 2020, Time magazine named Yuan its Businessperson of the Year', citing the extraordinary growth of Zoom during the pandemic and its role in enabling remote work and social connection during a period of unprecedented global disruption. The same year, he was included on Times list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York recognized Yuan as a Great Immigrant, an honor bestowed on naturalized American citizens who have made notable contributions to American society.

Yuan's IPO in 2019 received extensive media coverage, with multiple outlets noting the unusual circumstance of a technology company going public while already profitable. Forbes published an extensive profile detailing the inside story of Zoom's IPO, describing it as one of the most significant technology offerings of the year.

Legacy

Eric Yuan's impact on global communications is closely linked to the rapid adoption of Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. The platform became a cultural phenomenon, used not only for business meetings and educational instruction but also for social events such as weddings, funerals, religious services, and family gatherings. The word "Zoom" entered common parlance as a generic term for video calling, a level of brand recognition achieved by relatively few technology products.

Yuan's story of immigrating to the United States after having his visa application rejected eight times has been frequently cited in discussions about immigration policy and the contributions of immigrants to the American technology sector. The Carnegie Corporation's recognition of Yuan as a Great Immigrant underscored this aspect of his biography.

Within the technology industry, Zoom's success under Yuan's leadership challenged the dominance of established video conferencing products offered by companies including Cisco, Microsoft, and Google. The company demonstrated that a product built with a focus on simplicity and user experience could displace entrenched competitors in the enterprise market.

As of the mid-2020s, Yuan has positioned himself as a prominent voice in discussions about the future of work, particularly regarding the potential of artificial intelligence to reshape the workweek and the nature of professional collaboration. His public statements about AI reducing the workweek to three or even two days have contributed to a broader conversation among technology leaders about automation and its implications for labor and productivity.