WhatsApp CEO and Co-Founder Jan Koum has announced his exit from Facebook. He is also reported to step down from Facebook’s board of directors.
Things don’t seem to get easier for social media giant Facebook. The company is already in hot waters over the Cambridge Analytica Scandal which has cost it some subscribers already. And now, the company is loosing an important individual from the team: the CEO and Co-Founder of WhatsApp – Jan Koum.
Koum in a post on Facebook announced that he is leaving the social media giant. Koum, along with Brian Acton, had founded WhatsApp back in 2009. The app became very popular and can be found installed on majority of the smartphones right now. Even though WhatsApp lacks some features that are found on other messaging apps, the simplicity and robustness is what attracts users more towards WhatsApp.
WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook back in 2014 for a whopping $19 Billion, and since then, both the founders of WhatsApp – Acton and Koum – were aboard the Facebook team. Although Acton left the company last year in September to start his own non-profit, Koum still hung around.
Here’s what Jan Koum said in his Facebook post:
Well, while the reason cited by Koum to leave Facebook is “collecting rare air-cooled Porshces” and “playing ultimate frisbee”, there are some reports that put Koum’s exit as a result of clashes with the management over data sharing and privacy concerns. That said, apart from leaving Facebook, Koum is also reported to resign from Facebook’s board of directors.
With that being said, here’s Mark Zuckerberg’s reply to Koum’s Facebook post:
It would be interesting to see how things unfold over the coming months at Facebook, and how many others leave the team over issues and disagreements pertaining to data sharing and privacy.
