WhatsApp Co-Founder Jan Koum to Depart from Facebook

WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum is planning to leave the Facebook-owned company. He made this announcement on his Facebook page, in which he wrote that he is taking time to do things which he enjoy outside of technology, that includes collecting rare air-cooled Porsches and playing ultimate frisbee.

However, it has been reported that Koum’s departure is the result of clashes over issues like encryption, and also comes after he unloaded billions of dollars worth of Facebook stock.

WhatsApp Co-Founder Jan Koum to leave Facebook

Facebook bought the text messaging app from cofounders Koum for $19 billion in 2014. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has revealed in a January 2018 earnings call WhatsApp has reached 1.5 billion users and saw 60 billion messages sent each day.

On Koum’s departure post, Zuckerberg commented:

“I’m grateful for everything you’ve done to help connect the world, and for everything you’ve taught me, including about encryption and its ability to take power from centralized systems and put it back in people’s hands. Those values will always be at the heart of WhatsApp.”

Mark Zuckerberg reacted to the post with a “sad” reaction emoji. However, the date of Koum’s departure is unknown yet.

It has also been reported by general public that Koum made his decision to leave Facebook before the scandal of the Cambridge Analytica revelations.

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