Jan Koum is a computer programmer and billionaire businessman who is Ukrainian and American. He founded and served as CEO of WhatsApp, a mobile messaging app that Facebook purchased in 2014 for US$19.3 billion.

His father had the intention of later joining the family, but he never left Ukraine and passed away in 1997. Koum and his mom kept in contact with his dad until his demise. His mother started out working as a babysitter, and he started working as a cleaner at a grocery store. His mother lost her long fight with cancer in 2000.

While Koum was working at Ernst & Young in 1997, he met Brian Acton. Soon thereafter, he was employed by Hurray! as an engineer of infrastructure. He soon dropped out of school. Koum and Acton spent the next nine years at Yahoo! together. They left in September 2007 and took a year off to play ultimate frisbee and travel throughout South America. Both were turned down by Facebook’s job application.

Jan Koum Career

By the age of 18, Koum had fostered an interest in PC programming and enlisted at San Jose State College. During this time, he also worked as a security tester for Ernst & Young. Koum joined w00w00, a PC security think tank established in 1996, where he met Shawn Fanning and Jordan Ritter, who might later make Napster.

While Koum was working at Ernst and Young, in 1997, he met Brian Acton. Later that year, Yahoo! hired him. as an engineer of infrastructure. He soon dropped out of school. Over the course of the following nine years, Koum and Acton worked at Yippee! together. They left in September 2007 and took a year off to play ultimate frisbee and travel throughout South America.

Jan Koum Facts

On February 9, 2014, Zuckerberg formally proposed to Koum a deal to join the Facebook board and invited Koum to dinner at his house. Facebook announced the acquisition of WhatsApp for US$19 billion ten days later. Koum sold Facebook stock worth over $2.4 billion in the first half of 2016 or about half of his total holdings.

Jan Koum Net Worth

As of September 2023, Jan Koum’s net worth is estimated to be $15.2 billion, which he earned from co-founding and leading WhatsApp until 2018.

Personal Information

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