Jan Koum founded the messaging app WhatsApp. He incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in California on February 24, 2009, after discussing a phone-status application with his friend and future business partner Brian Acton.
Koum was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and immigrated to the United States with his mother as a teenager. He and Acton had previously worked at Yahoo. The app initially displayed users’ statuses, but Apple’s introduction of push notifications in 2009 helped turn it into an instant-messaging service.
A common mix-up is crediting only Acton or only Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Acton was a co-founder and early investor, while Zuckerberg did not found WhatsApp; Facebook acquired it in 2014 for about $19 billion. Koum remained WhatsApp’s chief executive until 2018, when he left after disagreements over privacy and data practices.