ICT

WhatsApp co-founder quits Facebook

Published

8 years ago

May 2, 2018

Feyijimi Emmanuel

Social-media giant Facebook has announced that WhatsApp Co-founder, Jan Koum will be leaving Facebook.

Koum revealed that he’s is resigning to pursue other interests.

There are however speculations that a disagreement with Facebook over the privacy of users’ data may have been a factor in Koum’ s decision to quit his position as a high-ranking executive and likely leave his seat on the board at the leading online social network.

“It’s been almost a decade since Brian and I started WhatsApp, and it’s been an amazing journey with some of the best people, but it is time for me to move on,” he said.

Facebook’s image has been put under scrutiny after an alleged data breach and involvement with Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics consultants that work for politicians across Europe, Africa, and America.

This has forced the social media giant to come up with more stringent data privacy regulations for its user.

Despite the crisis, Facebook in its recently released Q12018 financial result for the year ended 31 March 2018 recorded a 48% surge in revenue from $8.03 billion in Q1 2017 to $11.98 billion in Q1 2018.

Its monthly active users (MAU) was also put at 2.20 billion as of March 31, 2018, an increase of 13% year-over-year.

Whatsapp was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, two former Yahoo executives. On February 19, 2014, Facebook announced it was acquiring WhatsApp for US$19 billion, its largest acquisition to date.