Yahoo co-founder gives $75 mln to Stanford

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Jerry Yang, co-founder of Internet media company Yahoo Inc., is donating $75 million to Stanford University, which will spend most of the money on a new environmental studies center, the university said on Thursday.

Yang, who started Yahoo in 1994 with fellow student David Filo while working on his doctorate, planned to make the donations over a period of several years, said Howard Pearson, director of Stanford's development office.

It will be the largest of several donations Yang has made to his alma mater, although Pearson declined to say how much he has previously given.

Yang would make the donations with his wife, Akiko Yamazaki, also a Stanford graduate.

Of the total, $50 million will pay for a new environment and energy building and $5 million will go toward a doctor training facility for Stanford's medical school. The remaining $20 million will be used for future projects, Stanford said.

Yang's net worth was estimated at $2.4 billion in 2006, according to a report in Forbes magazine last September.

Stanford received $911 million in alumni donations in its fiscal year ended August 31, up more than 50 percent from the $603 million the previous year.

Although Yang obtained both bachelor's and master's degrees from Stanford, he never completed his doctorate in electrical engineering, and his biography on Yahoo says he "is currently on a leave of absence" from the program.