Jan Koum, one of the co-founders of the popular chat app WhatsApp, is leaving Facebook.
Koum announced his impending departure, ironically enough, via Facebook.
“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,” wrote Koum, in an April 30th, 2018 Facebook post. “But it is time for me to move on.”
According to the Washington Post, Koum is leaving the social media giant over recent clashes he has had with the company’s senior management over how Facebook handles personal data. The executive is said to have made his decision to leave Facebook prior to news of the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal coming out.
In an unusual move, the Washington Post reports Koum also plans to vacate his seat on Facebook’s board of directors.
Fellow WhatsApp co-founder Brian Action left Facebook this past November. Action famously tweeted his support for the #deletefacebook movement following the Cambridge Analytica revelations.
It is time. #deletefacebook
— Brian Acton (@brianacton) March 20, 2018
Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded to Koum’s statement with a comment of his own, saying, “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.”
Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for approximately $19.3 billion USD.
Source: Facebook Via: Washington Post
