Web luminaries hand $60 million to Tulane
Netscape co-founder Jim Clark and Yahoo co-founder David Filo dig deep for their alma mater.
The New Orleans academic institution announced on Thursday that the executives gave $30 million each. Clark was an undergraduate student at Tulane, and Filo attended the school's engineering program on a scholarship.
"This is my way of showing my gratitude for the wonderful education I received," Filo said in the Tulane announcement. "Tulane is a great university with the potential to be second to none among the nation's most important educational and research institutions."
The $60 million will be added to the school's general endowment, which the university is attempting to increase from its current level of $722 million to $1 billion by 2008. Tulane said the money will allow the 170-year-old school to support undergraduate students who display "extraordinary academic merit."
In addition to founding Netscape, Clark set up Silicon Graphics Inc., a maker of high-end computer and storage systems. He also started online health-care portal Healtheon/WebMD and financial services company myCFO. The Web luminary attended Tulane but graduated from the University of New Orleans. Clark is a member of Tulane's board.
Filo directs Yahoo's technical operations and holds a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from Tulane.