Chegg was founded in 2005 by two Iowa State students as an affordable textbook rental company. Seven years later, Chegg had moved to California and gone digital, launching an eReader that allowed students to "easily read, search, navigate, highlight and bookmark eTextbooks anytime on any connected device," according to the company's website. In 2013, not long after York was promoted to 49ers CEO, he was invited to join Chegg's board. Months later, Chegg went public with an IPO of 15 million shares of common stock at $12.50 per share.