Brian Acton
Cofounder, WhatsApp Inc.
$3.44B
as of 10/04/24
About Brian Acton
Computer engineer Brian Acton cofounded messaging app WhatsApp with Jan Koum in 2007; the two had met while working at Yahoo.
The pair sold WhatsApp to Facebook for $22 billion in cash and stock in 2014. Acton left WhatsApp at the end of 2017.
Acton received about $3 billion for his stake in WhatsApp. The mobile messaging app has over 1 billion users in 180 countries.
In 2018, he committed $50 million to Signal Foundation - the nonprofit behind the signal mobile app focused on preserving private communication.
Acton and wife, Tegan, have also founded three other philanthropic entities. In total, the couple holds over $1 billion in charitable vehicles.
Personal stats
Citizenship
United States of AmericaSource of wealth
WhatsAppResidence
Palo Alto, CaliforniaMarital status
MarriedBirth date
02/17/72 (age 52)Number of children
1Education
Bachelor of Arts/Science, Stanford UniversitySelf-made
self-madeBrian Acton’s fortune is worth
57K
troy ounces of gold
53K
median U.S. household
34K
median U.S. income
0.069%
U.S. credit card volume
0.014%
GDP of the United States
0.01%
United States debt
Net worth history
Annual ranking
Related people
Did you know?
Five years before Facebook bought WhatsApp, Acton had applied for a job at Facebook and was rejected.
Net worth over time
Real-time ranking
Images © Forbes.com. All rights reserved.