Jan Koum
Jan Koum · Economics & Business
Co-founder of WhatsApp
1976, Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Ukraine · United States
WhatsApp2009Jan Koum is recognized among Jewish contributors to Economics & Business — Co-founder of WhatsApp
Koum co-founded WhatsApp in 2009 and sold it to Facebook in 2014 for about 19 billion dollars, one of the largest tech acquisitions ever. He was born into a Jewish family in Soviet Ukraine and emigrated to the United States as a teenager, escaping antisemitism and hardship before building the messaging service.
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Source: Forbes Billionaire 2025
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Co-founder of WhatsApp
Source: Forbes Billionaire 2025
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