How much did Jan Koum sell WhatsApp for?

When Facebook announced its plans to acquire WhatsApp in February 2014, WhatsApp’s founders attached a purchase price of $16 billion: $4 billion in cash and $12 billion remaining in Meta shares. 3 This price tag is dwarfed by the actual price Meta paid: $21.8 billion.

How much did WhatsApp founders make?

Acton and fellow co-founder Jan Koum sold the messaging service WhatsApp to Facebook in 2014 for $22 billion. Acton received about $3 billion in the deal, and has a net worth of about $5.5 billion, according to Forbes.

What is Brian Acton doing now?

Signal. Acton left WhatsApp in September 2017 to start a new foundation, the Signal Foundation, which is dedicated to helping people have access to private communication through an encrypted messaging app. Acton is currently a board member of the Signal Foundation.

How much did Brian Acton make from WhatsApp?

In 2014, Koum and Acton sold WhatsApp to Facebook for approximately US$19 billion in cash and stock. Forbes estimated that Acton held over 20\% stake in the company, making his net worth around $3.8 billion. In 2016, Acton led a funding round for Trak N Tell and raised $3.5 million along with two other investors.

Who is Jan Koum and Brian Acton?

Elated at Indians, including top entrepreneurs and celebrities, rushing to join his encrypted messaging app Signal, Brian Acton, who co-founded WhatsApp with Jan Koum before selling it to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for $19 billion, aims to add 100-200 million users in India over the next two years.

Who is WhatsApp founder Jan Koum and how did he make $19bn?

Jan Koum, 37, moved to California from the Ukraine when he was 16. Founded mobile chat-app WhatsApp with Brian Acton in 2009. Koum has known Mark Zuckerberg ‘for a long time’, Facebook CEO said. Acton was rejected by Facebook and Twitter in 2009. Koum signed $19bn deal at welfare center where he used to collect handouts.

Who is WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton?

Less is known about Acton’s background, although his CV ticks a lot of boxes for a typical employee in the tech industry – Stanford University, Apple and Yahoo! But surprisingly Acton was actually turned down for a job with Facebook, the very company that has signed the deal with Whatsapp, in 2009.

Who is the founder of WhatsApp?

With WhatsApp however, there are a series of events that led founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton to build the world’s most used messaging app. Jan and Brian met in 1997, while Brian was working as a software engineer at Yahoo. The two liked each other and became friends.

What happened to Jan Koum and Adam Acton?

Acton invested in the dotcom boom, and lost millions in the 2000 bust. In September 2007, Jan Koum and Acton left Yahoo and year spend on traveling around South America and playing ultimate frisbee. They applied for Facebook and got rejected.