Jan Koum: Jewish American Heritage Month, Recognizing Immigrants and Refugees

In celebration of Jewish Heritage Month, we continue to recognize the economic, cultural, and social contributions of notable immigrants and refugees who’ve helped shape America’s vibrant tapestry. Today, we spotlight Jan Koum, co-founder and former CEO of WhatsApp.

Jan Borysovych Koum was born on February 24, 1976, near Kyiv, when Ukraine was a communist country influenced by the Soviet Union.

When he was 16, he moved to the United States with his mother and grandmother. They fled their country as refugees due to religious persecution. His father remained in Ukraine, hoping to join them later, but died before he could do so.

After settling in Mountain View, California, they lived on public assistance while his mother and he worked low-wage jobs to make ends meet. It was during this period that he became interested in computers.

Koum attended San Jose State University while working as a security tester at Ernst & Young.  In 1997, he dropped out of college to work at Yahoo as an infrastructure engineer. There he met his future collaborator, Brian Acton.

In 2009, he created WhatsApp, a cross-platform mobile app that allows users to securely communicate through voice, video, text, or media via the internet, no matter where they are in the world.

In 2014, Facebook (now Meta) acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion. Koum left in 2018 over issues related to monetization and privacy.

According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Jan Koum’s current net worth is estimated at about $22.3 billion.