In 1992, Jan Koum's family relied on food stamps; 22 years later, Facebook agreed to buy WhatsApp, which he co-founded, for $19 billion

In 1992, Jan Koum moved to California from Ukraine with his mother and grandmother. His family relied on food stamps to buy groceries. In February 2014, Facebook agreed to acquire WhatsApp, the messaging service he co-founded with Brain Acton, in a deal valued at $19 billion.

Jan Koum and his journey

He grew up in Ukraine and had limited access to technology. He also reportedly had concerns about government surveillance. According to WIRED, his family moved to California in 1992. He was only 16 at that time. His father remained in Ukraine, and staying in touch with members was difficult.

In the US, Koum faced the challenges of adjusting to a news country. He spoke little English and his family had limited money. He took up several jobs, including bagging groceries and working at Fry's Electronics, before moving into technology.


He later studied computer science and mathematics at college but dropped out. Koum went on to work in internet services and computer security. He joined Yahoo in 1997 after meeting co-founder David Filo at a technology conference.

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How WhatsApp started?

Koum met Brian Acton while working at Yahoo, soon after they left the company on the same day in October 2007. Notably, they had spent years working in the technology industry.

In February 2009, Koum registered a company to develop a mobile application called WhatsApp. The first version did not attract much attention.

The introduction of push notifications by Apple later that year led Koum to rethink the product. WhatsApp developed into a messaging application later. Acton joined the company and helped secure early investment.

WhatsApp did not rely on advertising to make money. It initially charged a one-time fee to download the app before moving to an annual subscription model in some markets. Koum and Acton wanted to keep the service free of ads.

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Why Facebook wanted WhatsApp

When Facebook CEO announced the deal in February 2014, WhatsApp had more than 450 million monthly active users. The company said the service was adding more than one million new users each day.

For Facebook, the acquisition offered a way to reach a large and rapidly growing audience through mobile messaging.