The nation’s newest billionaire is a rags-to-riches success story who escaped communist Ukraine as a teen and lived on food stamps in the United States before hitting it big with a messaging app that has become the hottest thing in social media.
Meet Jan Koum, the 37-year-old college dropout who, with his partner and mentor, Brian Acton, just sold their startup, WhatsApp, to Facebook for $19 billion in cash and stock.
Koum is now worth $6.8 billion.
It’s a long way from the government-assisted, two-bedroom apartment in Mountain View, Calif., where he came of age with his mom, and even farther from his rural childhood home in Kiev that had no hot water.
They did have a phone in Kiev, but his parents — a housewife and a construction manager — rarely used it because they feared it was tapped by the state.
“Jan’s childhood made him appreciate communication that was not bugged or taped,” says a blog by the Sequoia Capital venture-capital firm, an early WhatsApp investor.
What resulted over time was a popular communication tool that skirts traditional text-messaging trails.
By using a platform over mobile broadband instead of the networks that carry text messages, subscribers avoid pricey fees — and prying eyes.
Koum’s road to unimaginable wealth began at Ernst & Young, where he worked as a security tester while studying at San Jose State University in California. After a move to Yahoo in 1997, he made his first major career decision when one of the company’s co-founders pulled him out of class to help fix a broken server.
Koum took it a step further. He dropped out. “I hated school anyway,” he said years later.
After nine years at Yahoo, Koum grew weary of the Web giant’s thirst for ads. He and Acton applied for jobs at Facebook — and were rejected.
After drifting for a year, he and Acton founded WhatsApp in 2009. In just five years, the app boasts 450 million subscribers, mostly overseas.
The service charges a dollar a year after giving customers a year for free. There is no advertising, a model Facebook says will not change.
Koum will become a Facebook board member.
Despite his success, Koum has stayed out of the spotlight. Among his biggest interests is his homeland, now embroiled in clashes between the government and protesters.
“Praying for peace and quick resolution to the crisis #ukraine #freedom,” he tweeted.
Status updates
- Jewish, born and raised in Kiev, Ukraine, the only son of a housewife and a construction manager.
- His parents didn’t use the phone because they feared it was tapped by the Communist government.
- Came to the US with mom when he was 16, settled in Silicon Valley.
- First job was bagging groceries; also worked at Ernst & Young doing computer-security audits.
- Joined Yahoo in 1997, doing security and engineering ops; left in 2007.
- Created WhatsApp in 2009 with partner Brian Acton.
- Signed the Facebook deal at the California building where he used to collect food stamps.
- Net worth of $6.8 billion after the Facebook deal, according to Forbes.