WhatsApp Co-Founder & CEO Jan Koum announces to quit Facebook

WhatsApp’s Co-Founder & CEO Jan Koum has announced through a Facebook post that he would be leaving the company.

“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. I've been blessed to work with such an incredibly small team and see how a crazy amount of focus can produce an app used by so many people all over the world,” Koum wrote in his post.

“I'm leaving at a time when people are using WhatsApp in more ways than I could have imagined. The team is stronger than ever and it'll continue to do amazing things. I'm taking some time off to do things I enjoy outside of technology, such as collecting rare air-cooled Porsches, working on my cars and playing ultimate frisbee. And I'll still be cheering WhatsApp on – just from the outside. Thanks to everyone who has made this journey possible,” he added.

On this, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, also commented on the post, saying, “Jan: I will miss working so closely with you. I’m grateful for everything you’ve done to help connect the world, and for everything you’ve taught me, including about encryption and its ability to take power from centralized systems and put it back in people’s hands. Those values will always be at the heart of WhatsApp.” That comment further tries to downplay the idea that Facebook pushed Koum away by trying to erode encryption.

According to the media reports, the reason for the resignation was a fallout between the founders on the issue of user data privacy and encryption.

Also, the timing of the announcements can be a reason for further speculation, considering that Facebook is currently going through a turmoil of its own. Facebook has been accused of compromising user data of more than 87 million users by Cambridge Analytica, a data firm and used to influence elections in the US as well as India. Also around the same time, there were rumours of Facebook CSO Alex Stamos leaving the company due to disagreement over similar issues. However, he later dismissed the rumours.

Facebook acquired WhatsApp around three years back for US$19 billion. Its current usership is 1.5 billion. Interestingly, Brian Acton, Co-Founder of WhatsApp, left Facebook in November 2017, and has been supporting the #DeleteFacebook movement on Twitter.