Bob Young
Encyclopedia
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
software. He was born in Ancaster, Ontario
Ancaster, Ontario
Ancaster is a picturesque and historic community located on the Niagara escarpment, within the greater area of the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. This former town was founded officially in 1793 and was one of the oldest European communities established in present day Ontario along with Windsor...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He attended Trinity College School
Trinity College School
Trinity College School is a coeducational, independent boarding/day school located in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. TCS was founded on May 1, 1865, more than 2 years prior to Canadian Confederation. It includes a Senior School for grades 9 to 12 and a Junior School for grades 5 to 8.Among its...
in Port Hope
Port Hope
Port Hope mar refer to:*Port Hope, Michigan, U.S.*Port Hope, Ontario, Canada**Port Hope Aerodrome**Port Hope Conference**Port Hope Panthers**Port Hope railway station**Port Hope Transit...
, Ontario. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Victoria College
Victoria University in the University of Toronto
Victoria University is a constituent college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1836 and named for Queen Victoria. It is commonly called Victoria College, informally Vic, after the original academic component that now forms its undergraduate division...
at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
.
He created the ACC Corporation which merged with Red Hat
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
in 1995. From the merger to 1999 Bob Young was Red Hat's CEO. After leaving Red Hat he started Lulu, a self-publishing web-site that claims to be the world's fastest-growing provider of print-on-demand books. He is Lulu's CEO.
Young also co-founded Linux Journal
Linux Journal
Linux Journal is a monthly technology magazine published by Belltown Media, Inc. of Houston, Texas. The magazine focuses specifically on Linux, allowing the content to be a highly specialized source of information for open source enthusiasts.-History:...
in 1994, and in 2003
2003 CFL season
The 2003 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 50th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 46th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 2003:...
, he purchased the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Hamilton Tiger-Cats
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a Canadian Football League team based in Hamilton, Ontario, founded in 1950 with the merger of the Hamilton Tigers and the Hamilton Wildcats. The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Ivor Wynne Stadium...
, a Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
franchise. Young is also co-owner of the Carolina Railhawks, a soccer team located in Cary, NC that plays in the USSF D-2 Professional Soccer League.
In 2006 Young established the Lulu Blooker Prize, a book prize for books that began as blogs. He launched the prize partly as a means of promoting Lulu.
Young is strong believer in user-generated content
User-generated content
User generated content covers a range of media content available in a range of modern communications technologies. It entered mainstream usage during 2005 having arisen in web publishing and new media content production circles...
and open source software. In a 2008 interview he described the way that online social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
has empowered consumers:
Today the Internet connects every single one of your customers, not just to you but to each other. So you produce a lemon of a car and you won’t know where to hide because your customers are going to tell each other about it and then the rest of the world about it. So it is actually a fundamentally healthy thing from a consumer point of view.
Conversely if you do have a better product suddenly you have these businesses that grow like top seed. If you come up with an innovation that serves, that resonates with customers, the Internet will allow that innovation to spread dramatically faster than any other technology has enabled a new innovation to be adopted in the history of mankind.
Family
Joyce YoungJoyce Young
Joyce Young is a Canadian woman famous for a single act of philanthropy and for being the aunt of Red Hat Inc. founder Bob Young.Young and her husband Bill Young, both residents of Ancaster, Ontario, opted to help their nephew Bob with his high-tech venture shortly after its founding. Red Hat, Inc...
, Bob Young's aunt, purchased stock in Red Hat Inc. shortly after its founding. When Red Hat's stock rose significantly after its initial public offering in 1999, they sold enough stock to recoup their initial investment, and retained some stocks. By January 2000, the remaining stock was valued in the millions. In June 2000, she donated $40 million to the Hamilton Community Foundation to be used largely in improvement of Hamilton-area health facilities, an act that represented one of the single largest charitable donations in Canadian history. The couple also made significant donations to the Royal Military College of Canada
Royal Military College of Canada
The Royal Military College of Canada, RMC, or RMCC , is the military academy of the Canadian Forces, and is a degree-granting university. RMC was established in 1876. RMC is the only federal institution in Canada with degree granting powers...
.