BUSINESS
Imagine leaving your country as a teenager, sweeping floors in a foreign land to make ends meet, and then going to found one of the most popular technology products known to man. This is the incredible story of Jan Koum. Read on to know more.
Updated : May 16, 2025, 10:35 AM IST
 "WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum.")
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Imagine leaving your country at the age of 16, sweeping floors in a foreign land to make ends meet, and then going to found one of the most popular technology products known to man. This is the incredible story of Jan Koum, a Jewish man born in Ukraine who cofounded a service that over two billion people across the globe rely on every single day. Read on to know more about him.
Personal life
Jan Borysovych Koum, 49, was born in 1976 in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. A single child, Koum had moved to Mountain View in the US' California state with his mother in 1992 at the age of 16. His father, who had stayed back in Ukraine, passed away just five years later in 1997. Koum's mother died just three years after, leaving him orphaned in his 20s.
During his early years, Koum took up a cleaning job at a grocery store and relied on food stamps to feed himself.
Tech career
Koum enrolled at San Jose State University but dropped out to pursue career opportunities. His first decent job was as a security tester at Ernst & Young. In 1997, he moved to Yahoo! as an infrastructure engineer, working there for nearly a decade. The turning point in Koum's life came when he turned 33 as he founded WhatsApp -- a pioneering instant messaging app that is today the world's most popular in the domain. The product was acquired by Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook for a whopping USD 22 billion in 2014, just five years after its launch. As of early 2025, WhatsApp had more than two billion (200 crore) users in over 180 countries.
Later ventures
In 2018, Koum resigned as chief executive officer of WhatsApp, also announcing his decision to quit Facebook's board.
He now invests through his firm Newlands. Despite founding one of the most popular apps ever, Koum is known to maintain a low profile, mostly avoiding media attention.
Net worth
Koum has a net worth of USD 16.6 billion, according to estimates from Forbes magazine, ranking him among the richest in the world.
