Brian Acton was born on the 24th February 1972, in Michigan, USA, and is an Internet entrepreneur and computer programmer, best known as a co-founder of the mobile message service application called WhatsApp. Acton’s career started in 1992.
Have you ever wondered how rich Brian Acton is, as of mid- 2016? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Brian Acton’s net worth is at least as high as $3.4 billion, an amount earned through his successful career in the IT industry. In addition to being a co-founder of one of the most popular applications in the world, Acton also worked for Yahoo which improved his wealth.
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Brian Acton Net Worth $3.4 Billion
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Brian Acton spent some time of his childhood in Michigan but grew up in Central Florida with his mother and stepfather, who played professional golf. His mother worked in a freight shipping company and was the one who taught Brian how to run a business, manage payroll, recruit well, and other business insights. Acton went to Lake Howell High School and later studied computer science at Stanford University. He graduated in 1994, but had already secured his first job in 1992 when he became a systems administrator for Rockwell International. His net worth was on the rise.
Acton quickly progressed in the programming world, soon beginning to work as a product tester at Apple Inc. and Adobe Systems, before getting a job at Yahoo Inc. in 1996. Acton and Jan Koum met in 1998 when Koum joined Yahoo, and they were colleagues over the next nine years. They became the best of friends, and decided to leave Yahoo to take a year off, with plans of travelling around South America. Both of them tried to land a job at Facebook, but were turned down, while Acton also unsuccessfully applied for Twitter.
Jan Koum bought an iPhone in January 2009, and immediately realized that the App Store would expand, so he had the idea of developing a certain application. He gave it a name – WhatsApp, and in February 2009, he and Acton established WhatsApp Inc. in California. The mobile messaging app became an instant hit worldwide, and the fact that it was free to download significantly increased its popularity. At the moment, WhatsApp has over 600 million active users from all around the world. In most of the countries outside the US messaging services aren’t that cheap, so WhatsApp improved the messaging experience with the simple yet effective interface. Acton used his learning from early in his life when his mother taught him the principles of business, taxes and bills, so he was in charge of the finances while Koum concentrated on the product.
In 2014, Acton and Koum decided to sell WhatsApp to Facebook for $19 billion in cash and stocks which made them filthy rich. Reportedly, Acton’s shares in the company were 20% which means he earned around $3.8 billion, which only added a substantial amount to his net worth.
Regarding his personal life, Brian Acton is married to Nancy; they have a son, and the family currently resides in Mountain View, California.
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