Chaudhry and his family control Zscaler, operator of the world's largest internet security platform for the cloud. The San Jose-based company has more than 7,700 customers and reported revenue of $2.7 billion in the year to July 31, 2025. Zscaler began trading publicly on New York's NASDAQ exchange in March 2018.
The majority of Chaudhry's fortune is derived from his family's stake in Zscaler, a publicly traded provider of security software. They control about 35% of the company through direct holdings and trust. The full value of these shareholdings is attributed to Jay Chaudhry to reflect his status as Zscaler's founder and chief executive officer. Zscaler is the world's largest security platform for the cloud and has more than 7,700 customers, according to the company's website.
Chaudhry and his family have received more than $300 million from share transactions in the cybersecurity companies he founded prior to starting Zscaler. The value of his cash and other assets is based on an analysis of these transactions as well as dividends, market performance, taxes and charitable contributions.
Chaudhry declined to comment on his net worth.
Jagtar "Jay" Chaudhry was born Aug. 26, 1958, in India. Raised in a farming family, he grew up in a Himalayan village that had no running water or electricity for most of his childhood.
Chaudhry studied electronic engineering as an undergraduate at the Indian Institute of Technology, according to his LinkedIn profile. He then obtained three master's degrees from the University of Cincinnati in computer and electronic engineering, business administration and industrial engineering. He also attended Harvard Business School's executive management program.
Chaudhry started working for a software company after receiving his first degree at University of Cincinnati, according to a June 2013 interview he gave to the Silicon Valley entrepreneur site One Million by One Million. Before launching his first cybersecurity start-up in January 1997, Chaudhry held sales and marketing roles at U.S. multinational businesses including International Business Machines Corp., NCR Corp. and Unisys Corp. He sold his start-up, SecureIT Inc., a year later and sold three other cybersecurity businesses before setting up Zscaler in October 2007.
Zscaler had an initial public offering in March 2018. It was the year's first IPO involving a technology "unicorn".
Chaudhry met his wife, Jyoti, while they were both students at University of Cincinnati. They live in California.