Brian Acton
| Brian Acton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1972 (age 42–43) |
| Nationality | United States |
| Alma mater | Stanford University |
| Occupation | Co-founder of Whatsapp |
| Organization | WhatsApp Inc. |
| Known for | Co-founded WhatsApp with Jan Koum in 2009 |
| Net worth |
 US$ 2.7 billion (March 2014)[1] |
Brian Acton (born 1972) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is the co-founder (with Jan Koum) of WhatsApp,[2] a mobile messaging application which was acquired by Facebook Inc. in February 2014 for US$19 billion. He was formerly employed at Yahoo Inc.
Education and early career
Acton, born in Michigan, grew up in Central Florida[3] where he graduated from Lake Howell High School. He later graduated from Stanford University in 1994 with a degree in computer science.[4] He earlier studied at the University of Central Florida and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1992, he became a systems administrator for Rockwell International, before becoming a product tester at Apple Inc. and Adobe Systems. In 1996, he became the 44th employee hired by Yahoo Inc.
Yahoo
In 1998 Jan Koum was hired by Yahoo as an infrastructure engineer. Shortly afterward he met Acton while working at Ernst & Young as a security tester.[5] Over the next nine years, they worked at Yahoo. Acton invested in the dotcom boom and lost millions in the dot-com bubble of 2000. In September 2007 Koum and Acton left Yahoo and took a year off, traveling around South America and playing ultimate frisbee. Both applied, and failed, to work at Facebook. In January 2009, Koum bought an iPhone and realized that the then seven-month-old App Store was about to spawn a whole new industry of apps. He visited his friend Alex Fishman and talked about developing an app.[5] Koum almost immediately chose the name WhatsApp because it sounded like “what’s up,” and a week later on his birthday, Feb. 24, 2009, he incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in California.[5]
In 2014, Koum and Acton agreed to sell WhatsApp to Facebook for approximately $19 billion USD in cash and stock.[4] Forbes estimates that Acton held over 20% stake in the company, making his net worth around $3.8 billion.[6] According to Acton's personal Twitter feed, he was turned down for employment by both Twitter and Facebook in 2009.[4]
References
- ↑ Forbes: The World's Billionaires - Brian Acton March 2014
- ↑ "Brian Acton". Forbes.
- ↑ Zuckerberg Bonded With WhatsApp CEO Over Coffee and Dinners
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Wood, Zoe (February 20, 2014). "Facebook turned down WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton for job in 2009". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Parmy Olson (February 19, 2014). "Exclusive: The Rags-To-Riches Tale Of How Jan Koum Built WhatsApp Into Facebook's New $19 Billion Baby". Forbes. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
- ↑ Mac, Ryan (February 19, 2014). "WhatsApp Founders Become Billionaires In $19 Billion Facebook Deal". Forbes. Retrieved 21 February 2014.