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Jan Koum. Photo by afromusing.

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Jan Koum

Jan Koum whose real name at birth was Yan Borisovich Kumis is a Ukrainian-American billionaire businessman and computer engineer born on 24^th February, 1976.

He co-founded and served as the CEO of WhatsApp, a mobile messaging app which was acquired by Facebook for US$19.3 billion in 2014.

Jan Koum is one of the richest people in the world with a net worth estimated at US$9.8 billion as of May 2022 by Forbes.

In 2014, he entered the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans at No.62 with an estimated net worth of US $7.5 billion thereby making him the highest-ranked new comer.

The top 10 amazing facts about Jan Koum include the following.

1. Jan Sold WhatsApp For US$19 billion To Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Anthony Quintano.

Jan incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in California in the United States of America in 2009 on his 33^rd birthday. Initially the app was unpopular but it gained a larger user base in the market in 2009 after Apple added push notification ability to apps.

After having dinner with Mark Zuckerberg at his house, Facebook announced it was acquiring WhatsApp for US$19 billion in addition to a deal for Jan to join Facebook board on 9^th February, 2014.

2. Jan Sold His Facebook Stock For $2.4 Billion And Stepped Down from Its Board

Jan sold about half of his total holdings in Facebook over the first half of 2016 for well over $2.4 billion.

Due to disputes with Facebook, Jan announced he was leaving Facebook board and WhatsApp altogether.

However, it was alleged that Jan was still an employee of Facebook even after leaving and through a method called “rest and vest” he was earning a reported $450 million in stock from Facebook.

3. It Took Two Years For Jan To agree To Sell WhatsApp To Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg started the conversation to take over WhatsApp in 2012. However, Jan did not succumb to Zuckerberg鈥檚 charm offensive even though they went out on hikes together and ate dinners together.

Zuckerberg and Jan even hang out together during those two years but Jan still held his ground. Eventually Jan agreed to sell the company to Facebook in 2014 for US$19 billion and a seat on its board.

4. Jan Agreed To Sell WhatsApp To Facebook On Valentine’s Day

Zuckerberg proposed a takeover of WhatsApp to Jan on 9^th February, 2014 over dinner at his house. Instead of being a typical startup acquisition, Zuckerberg promised Jan that the deal will be more of a partnership than an acquisition.

Jan did not agree to his proposal at first as he stated that he needed some days to ponder on the proposal.

Jan went over to Zuckerberg鈥檚 house on Valentine’s day when Zuckerberg was having Valentine dinner with his wife and announced that he had decided to accept the proposal.

5. Jan Passionately Hates Advertising

A note which simply reads 鈥淣o Ads! No Games! No Gimmicks!鈥� is still kept on Jan鈥檚 desk. Jan was given the note by WhatsApp鈥檚 co-founder Brian Acton as a reminder of the company鈥檚 focus.

The note is a daily reminder to Jan about the company鈥檚 one goal of providing pure messaging service to its target market.

Due to his hatred for advertising WhatsApp has never spent a single penny on marketing, does not employ a marketer or a person in public relations.

The company does not incur expenses on user acquisition and instead its popularity has been through messages that have gone viral.

WhatsApp鈥檚 growth has been based on referrals .i.e. happy users spread the service to friends, family, co-workers etc who then become new users and the cycle repeats.

6. Jan immigrated to the U.S When He Was Still A Teenager

Fastiv Photo by 袟邪谢褞斜芯胁褋褜泻懈泄 袦邪褉泻.

Jan was born on 24^th February, 1976 in Kyiv in Ukraine but was then in the USSR.  He grew up in Fastiv; a city in Kyiv Oblast.

He immigrated to Mountain View, California with his mother and grandmother when he was 16 year of age.

The family got a small two-bedroom apartment with the help of a social support program. Jan worked as a cleaner at a grocery store while his mother worked as a cleaner.

7. Jan Dropped Out Of College At The Instigation Of Yahoo Co-founder

David Filo. Photo by Mitchell Aidelbaum.

Jan interviewed at Yahoo and got a job as an infrastructure engineer for which he ended up working for the company with his co-founder for 9 years.

Two weeks into the job he was called on his mobile by Yahoo co-founder David Filo to get to the office urgently.

Jan informed Filo that he was in class at San Jose State University.

David Filo convinced Filo to drop out of school which he did saying he hated school anyway.

8. A Government Building Was The Venue For Signing The Takeover Deal

The deal to sell WhatsApp to Facebook was signed by Jan, Acton and Jim Coetzee of Sequoia Capital on the door of a white building which used to be North County Social Services office.

It was the same building where Jan used to stand in line as he waited for his turn to receive food stamps and as such had a symbolic value to him.

Sequioa Capita is a Silicon Valley venture capital which had invested US$8 million in WhatsApp and Jim Coetzee was its representative in the signing.

9. Jan And His Co Founder Were Rejected By Facebook

Jan and his cofounder Brian Acton met while working at Ernst & Young and later worked together at Yahoo for over nine years.

They both left Yahoo in 2007 and took a year off playing ultimate Frisbee and travelling around South America together.

The two business partners applied for jobs in 2007 at Facebook after leaving Yahoo but they were both rejected.

10. Jan Is A Philanthropist  And Hates To be Called An Entrepreneur

Silicon Valley. Photo by Patrick Nouhailler.

Jack donated close to $556 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and $1 million to The FreeBSD Foundation in 2014.

Further, Jan donated $500,000 and $250,000 to The FreeBSD Foundation in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

In support to American Israel Public Affairs Committee鈥檚 involvement in 2022 Democratic primaries, Jan donated yet another $1.00 million

Jan hates the title of entrepreneur a he feels entrepreneurs are motivated by desire to make money.

He noted in a tweet that his desire is to build useful products and prefers not to be called an entrepreneur.