WhatsApp co-founder and CEO leaves parent company Facebook
Jan Koum, who co-founded WhatsApp with Brian Acton and previously served as CEO of the company, has announced that he will be leaving WhatsApp parent company Facebook. According to people with knowledge of the situation, there was a disagreement between Koum and Facebook.
Koum announces his decision via a message on the social network. In it he refers to ‘a great journey’, which started almost ten years ago together with Acton. “I am leaving at a time when people are using WhatsApp in more ways than I could have imagined. The team is stronger than ever and it will continue to do great things,” said Koum. He doesn’t say exactly what he’s going to do next, but talks about “things outside of technology” and using his free time.
The Washington Post writes based on sources with knowledge of the situation that Koum left after a disagreement with parent company Facebook. That conflict revolved around the chat service’s strategy, attempts by Facebook to use user data and weaken encryption, the sources said. Koum and Acton allegedly opposed Facebook’s advertising model. In the end, Koum would have been “exhausted” by the disagreements. According to the sources, other WhatsApp employees also plan to leave soon, as soon as it is possible under the terms of the Facebook acquisition.
Acton left the company earlier, in September of last year. He announced at the end of February that he would donate 50 million dollars to a new foundation for the chat app Signal. He himself became part of that foundation.
The paper goes on to say that Koum was the only CEO of a Facebook-acquired company to serve on the company’s board of directors and that his departure is “highly unusual” as its management has been very loyal to Facebook during the recent scandal. . Koum’s decision to leave is said to have been made before the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion. Currently, WhatsApp does not share EU user data with its parent company. It has pledged that this will only happen if it can comply with the GDPR.