Brian Acton
Technology

Brian Acton Net Worth

Brian Acton was born on February 17, 1972 in Palo Alto, California, United States and is the cofounder of WhatsApp Inc. with Jan Koum. The two met while working at Yahoo and sold WhatsApp to Facebook for $22 billion in 2014, with Acton receiving $3 billion for his stake. WhatsApp is now one of the biggest mobile messaging apps with 1.3 billion monthly active users.
Brian Acton is a member of Technology

Age, Biography and Wiki

Who is it? Cofounder, WhatsApp Inc.
Birth Day February 17, 1972
Birth Place Palo Alto, California, United States
Age 52 YEARS OLD
Birth Sign Pisces
Residence California
Alma mater Stanford University (BS)
Occupation Co-founder of WhatsApp
Organization WhatsApp
Known for Co-founded WhatsApp with Jan Koum in 2009

💰 Net worth: $2.4 Billion (2024)

Brian Acton's net worth is projected to be an impressive $2.4 billion by the year 2024. He gained this wealth through his role as the co-founder of WhatsApp Inc., an immensely popular instant messaging application based in the United States. Acton's contribution to the success of WhatsApp has significantly boosted his financial standing, placing him among the wealthiest individuals in the tech industry.

2014 $3.4 Billion
2015 $4 Billion
2016 $5.4 Billion
2017 $5.6 Billion
2018 $6.72 Billion

Biography/Timeline

1992

In 1992, he became a systems administrator for Rockwell International, before becoming a product tester at Apple Inc. and Adobe Systems. In 1996, he became the 44th employee hired by Yahoo Inc.

1994

Acton, born in Michigan, grew up in Central Florida, where he graduated from Lake Howell High School. Acton received a full scholarship to study engineering at the University of Pennsylvania but left after a year to study at Stanford. He graduated from Stanford University in 1994 with a degree in computer science.

1998

In 1998, Jan Koum was hired by Yahoo as an infrastructure Engineer shortly after he met Acton while working at Ernst & Young as a security tester. Over the next nine years, they worked at Yahoo. Acton invested in the Dotcom boom and lost millions in the dot-com bubble of 2000. In September 2007 Koum and Acton left Yahoo and took a year off, traveling around South America and playing ultimate frisbee. Both applied, and failed, to work at Facebook. In January 2009, Koum bought an iPhone and realized that the then seven-month-old App Store was about to spawn a whole new industry of apps. He visited his friend Alex Fishman and talked about developing an app. Koum almost immediately chose the name WhatsApp because it sounded like “what’s up,” and a week later on his birthday, Feb. 24, 2009, he incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in California.

2014

In 2014, Koum and Acton agreed to sell WhatsApp to Facebook for approximately $19 billion USD in cash and stock. Forbes estimates that Acton held over 20% stake in the company, making his net worth around $3.8 billion. According to Acton's personal Twitter feed, he was turned down for employment by both Twitter and Facebook in 2009.

2018

Acton left WhatsApp in Sep 2017 to start a new foundation, the Signal Foundation. On March 20, 2018, Forbes reported that Acton had publicly tweeted support for the new #deletefacebook movement, in a "new level of public backlash."

Some Brian Acton images

About the author

Lisa Scholfield

As a Senior Writer at Famous Net Worth, I spearhead an exceptional team dedicated to uncovering and sharing the stories of pioneering individuals. My passion for unearthing untold narratives drives me to delve deep into the essence of each subject, bringing forth a unique blend of factual accuracy and narrative allure. In orchestrating the editorial workflow, I am deeply involved in every step—from initial research to the final touches of publishing, ensuring each biography not only informs but also engages and inspires our readership.