Yahoo Founder Attains Billionaire Status

Who could’ve guessed that someone with the title “Chief Yahoo” would be worth a billion dollars? Yahoo Inc.’s David Filo, 31, is the first founder of an Internet directory to reach billionaire status, based on his holdings in the company. Yahoo’s record close pushed Filo’s net worth to $1.01 billion, vaulting him into an elite group with Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison and Intel Corp. co-founder Gordon Moore. Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, 29, isn’t far behind. Yahoo, the No. 1 service that helps Internet users find information on the global computer network, has been an investors’ dream, climbing more than sixfold last year to top all U.S. stocks. The Santa Clara-based company’s shares rose $3 to close at $172.88 on Nasdaq. Filo owns 5.85 million shares, or 12.8%, of the company.